Late one night
by elena taicho
Summary: What happens when Itachi leaves Akatsuki and ends up saving the life of the Hokage? and why has Tsunade just told Sakura that she has been chosen to be a bride in an arranged marrige? ItachixSakura
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE I do not own Naruto

―――

"**Sasuke-kun, I love you."**

"**Sakura. Thank you."**

Looking out of her bedroom window, Haruno Sakura tried to remember how she came to this point. The pink-haired chūnnin remembered as her beloved Sasuke had knocked her out after she had professed her love to him, then had betrayed Konoha by going to find the Snake-like, S-ranked criminal, Orochimaru.

"**Sasuke-kun while seek me out in search of power."**

Sakura closed her eyes trying to summon up tears that were nowhere to be found. It had been three years since that had happened and a lot had changed. Sakura was 16 and had spent those three years training under Tsunade, the village's Godaime Hokage. In that time she had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her cherry blossom pink hair fell lightly over her large forehead into intelligent emerald eyes. Her body had grown from her long legs, and slender yet strong arms, to her fully matured bosom. A big change from the small, weak and love-sick girl she had been. Sakura now feared that she had changed so much that her feelings for Sasuke had changed as well.

―――

"**Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, hate me, detest me, and live in an unsightly way. Run, run, and cling to life."**

Uchiha Itachi remembered the time he had seen his little brother and left the village of Konoha. He had just killed his entire clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. He had hated his clan. They had treated him nothing more than a weapon to be used. He had never felt loved by anyone except his mother and Sasuke. He had wanted to leave his mother alive but when he had gone to kill his father, his mother had chosen to die with him. It was his biggest regret. It was for that reason that Itachi had left his brother the way he had, he hoped that Sasuke would return strong enough to kill him for what he had done.

Itachi moved his long black hair out of his face. He was 21 years old and was in top physical condition. His chiseled muscles and handsome face were hidden beneath the black and red Akatsuki cloak. The only part of his face that was visible was the red and black of his kekei-genkai, the Sharingan mirror wheel eyes.

Itachi had tiring of the organization known as Akatsuki. They were making no movements over the last three years except to try and gain a one-tailed demon, Shikaku, out of the Kazekage, Gaara. This had failed. As Itachi left the Akatsuki base, he was aware that he was leaving the only people who would accept him. He had no family, no village, and nowhere to go, but he didn't care. All Itachi wanted was a change from his life. Something to tell him he wasn't all that bad.

―――

Tsunade walked toward Konoha as if she had a full bladder and as if the village had the only bathroom. The fifty-some year old had left Shizune and Sakura in charge for three days and was praying that the village hadn't gone up in flames. It's not that Tsunade didn't trust her protégés; it was that as Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the woman had a responsibility to her people. She would have been able to be back at the village within a day of visiting the sand village, but she wasn't alone. Several of the Village's Elder Council had wanted to accompany her in order to reassess the alliance she had made with Gaara. As old as she was, she liked to look in her twenties, and was able to do so because of her own, special, jutsu.

Ever since Naruto had returned to the village, the Elders had began to question her every move. She was the Hokage for goodness sakes! Not only that, but she was the student of the third Hokage, and the granddaughter of the first Hokage! Tsunade believed in Naruto's abilities and was happy to have him back in the village after three years. Things had been way too quiet. Besides, now that he was dating Hinata, Naruto had mellowed out a little.

Tsunade was so determined to reach the village that she didn't notice the rushing of trees and rocks that were falling over the road they were on.

Tsunade frantically searched for a way to avoid the falling debris. It was evident from the way it was falling that the debris was caused by an explosion. Considering the fact that there was supposed to be no people in the area, Tsunade quickly assumed that the explosion came from an ambush.

Tsunade quickly grabbed her three traveling partners and threw out a field of chakra, forcing the falling rocks to come in contact with her dome shaped power. As the rocks settled over head, Tsunade realized that they were trapped, and someone was bleeding.

"Shit", she said as she realized that the blood she felt was coming from a wound from her head. Starting to get dizzy, she called to the Elders, ensuring they were OK, and tried to formulate an escape plan.

_Damn_, she thought, _I can't use my strength to get out of here because the rocks will fall and crush the Elders. I'm fast enough to get out in time, but I doubt they are. Plus, I'm injured, and don't have enough chakra to heal myself and get us out AND fight whoever it was that did this._

"God, what am I gonna do?"

―――

Itachi was running through a forest near Konoha when he heard an explosion. He went to investigate in time to see the Godaime Hokage of Konoha try and protect three old bags as a heavy rock-avalanche fell onto them. Itachi figured that the new Hokage would handle things and prepared to move on as he saw a hole in her chakra barrier. He watched as a large boulder hit the great Tsunade in the head because she was too busy worrying about the others.

Itachi never did understand what made him go down to the site of the trapped Hokage.

Appearing before the tomb, Itachi began to wonder how long they would last. Hearing a bristling noise he turned on his heel to face a squad of four shinobi from the village hidden in the grass.

The largest, and clearly the leader, stepped forward. He didn't recognize Itachi because he had forgone hi Akatsuki robe in order to hide better.

"Hey little one", the Rock shinobi sneered. "If you don't want to get hur-, Aggrrggh!"

Itachi moved from the man he had just killed in order to work on his teammates. Itachi finished them quickly, leaving no time for them to scream. Itachi turned from the corpses and began to remove the rocks off the falling travelers.

―――

Tsunade couldn't believe her eyes. Uchiha Itachi, the S-ranked criminal, missing-nin, and murderer of his clan was pulling her and the Elders out of the rocks. S-A-V-I-N-G THEM!

The only thing she could ask was, "Why?"

"I don't know" was his reply.

As Itachi turned to leave, Tsunade had a thought.

"Uchiha Itachi. You have just saved the life of the Hokage and the lives of members of the Elder Council of Konoha. Where do your loyalties lay?"

"You mean, 'Have you left Akatsuki?' and, yes, I have."

"And where do you plan to go?"

"I have nowhere to go."

The Elders had listened to this exchange, and called Tsunade over into a conference. Itachi stood at the side of the road as the Elders spoke to the Hokage.

" WHAT?!'

"What do you mean 'what?' he did save our lives after all."

"Yes, I know!" Tsunade grumbled, "but he is Uchiha Itachi! Are you so old you can't remember what he did?!"

"I remember perfectly well what he did!" screamed the oldest, "Many of the people he killed were my friends! But still…I can only wonder why he had saved us. And let's remember that even though he left, he never really did any harm."

"Never did any harm?! He put Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke into a coma, injured several other jōnin, AND tried to kidnap Naruto!"

"Here we go; you always bring Naruto into everything!"

"I do not!" said Tsunade vehemently.

"Tsunade. We of the Elder Council have let you do what you have wanted concerning the Kyubi, despite our better judgment. We are asking you now to trust us; and to repay him for saving our lives."

Tsunade put up her finger. "First things first. Naruto is a good kid, NOT A MURDERER! Second, what about Sasuke?"

"The youngest Uchiha has abandoned the village; there is nothing we can do. Tsunade, we are not asking you…"

"Very well..." Tsunade turned to Itachi. "Uchiha Itachi, you will return with us to the village, and will await our decision on your future. Now that I have healed my wound, and recovered, somewhat, if you try to escape, I will personally, chase you down and kill you."

Somewhat startled, Itachi tried to keep the surprised look off his face as he looked for one person to the next. What were they thinking? Itachi didn't know. He knew for a fact that Tsunade **would** kill him if he tried to escape, so he just nodded.

―――

It was getting late as they started for the village, and it was dark as the Hokage locked Uchiha Itachi into a hidden jail cell, pondering the conversation they had had on the way there; Praying that the Elder Council wouldn't do anything to make her look **too** bad.

"We of the Elder Council have decided. For saving the lives of the Hokage, and three of our most important members, as well as, stopping the possible invasion from the Village Hidden in the Grass, essentially saving the lives of many ninja, we grant Uchiha Itachi amnesty for his crimes, past and present. And in addition we shall help him restore his clan by arranging his marriage with the girl of our choice."

Upon hearing this Tsunade's jaw dropped to the floor. "WHAT?!"

―――

Well that was chapter 1! please review. flames will be ignored! Please comment!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two** I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to those who have reviewed my first chapter! I was scared that you wouldn't like it. **

**So anyway, here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought. Changed from last time. ***

―――

Earlier that day

"_Itachi, why would you run away from Akatsuki?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_Okaaay. Why did you kill your family?"_

"_Because."_

"_That is NOT an answer!" _

"_I don't feel like talking with them listening."_

"_Oh… Then we'll speed up, and then they won't be able to hear us. Okay? Then will you talk?"_

"_Hm." Itachi said, nodding his head. Speeding up the S-ranked criminal, and the Hokage walked up ahead of their elderly companions._

"_You asked why I left Akatsuki. Well, I was tired."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, not that I was opposed to the activities of Akatsuki, but I was tired in partaking in them. The only reason I joined them in the first place was because I was hoping for somewhere to call home."_

"_But that was your own fault. You're the one that killed your family."_

"_Yes, but that I did for a reason."_

"_What reason could possibly merit the killing of your family!?"_

"_No, you misunderstand. To me, they were not my family, they were my keepers."_

"_What the heck are you talking about, Itachi."_

_Itachi took a deep breath. "My 'family', as you call it, never loved me. They only wanted to use me, because I had been born with power. They only people who loved me were my mother and brother. And if you recall, I left my brother alive. But my mother, she had chosen to die with my father. Out of everyone it was my father who wanted to use me the most."_

"_Is that why you left Sasuke alive, because he had loved you? But then why did you leave him the way you did?"_

"_Because. I had killed our mother. He shouldn't forgive me, even if I HAD left her alive. That's why. I had hoped that Sasuke would one day come to kill me, as punishment."_

"_You know your brother left the village in order to train with Orochimaru, right?"_

"_Yes. Now that he has done that, there is no hope for him."_

"_What do you mean? We will find him and bring him back!"_

"_Even so, because he does not rely on himself and has turned to the darkest and most twisted person alive, he can never defeat me…"_

It was at this moment that the travelers reached the village of Konoha, and the Hokage led Itachi inside, under the cover of night, to a hidden jail cell behind her office.

―――

"What the hell do you mean?!" Tsunade growled, looking up at the Elder Council. "Are you all FREAKIN' crazy?!"

"Tsunade, please calm yourself."

"Alright, alright, *sigh*, now tell me, how can you justify the deaths of the entire Uchiha clan with Itachi saving only 3 people?"

"We will not argue the decision. Nor do we want to hear of you doing anything that will hinder it. Now we will move to the matter of the marriage. Tsunade, make a list of those kunoichi that would be suitable."

Tsunade crossed her arms, "I will not cooperate. You made this decision, while I have to follow it and cannot stop you, I can refuse to help you."

"Fine…" He turned to the woman sitting next to him. "Get me the list, immediately please."

The woman slowly got up, and walked out of the room, flashing Tsunade a look of remorse as she passed. Within ten minutes the woman returned to the Council's room to find the Hokage and the Head Elder locked in a vicious staring contest. The slamming of the door after the woman jarred the Head Elder's focus, causing Tsunade to release a contemptuous 'humph'. The woman handed him the list and he read aloud:

"'The current available Kunoichi are as follows:' why are there only ten?"

"Because, they are the only kunoichi close to Itachi's age."

"Oh, anyways…" He skims the paper. He mumbles to himself as Tsunade waits with her arms crossed. "No, no, too old, too old, engaged. Aghh, here we are. Team Guy: TenTen, 17 years old." His face dropped, "currently in a relationship with Rock Lee. Next is…Hyuga Hinata, 16 years old, currently in a relationship with…Uzumaki Naruto. (whispers) Damn Kyubi. Yamanaka Ino, 16 years old, no."

"Hold up," Tsunade said. "Why is Ino a 'no'?"

"Because, I have heard certain rumors and…" he trailed off. "Anyways, there is one left on the list that is not in relationship and has no filth attached to her name."

Still wanting an answer to her question Tsunade lifted her blonde head to hear.

"The girl we choose shall be from Team Kakashi, 16 years old, Haruno Sakura."

For the second time in half an hour, Tsunade's jaw dropped. "NO! NO! NO! There is no way I'm gonna let you marry off the best kunoichi in Konoha to that bastard! What is this some secret vendetta you have against me? You can't do this!"

―――

Sakura tore herself away from her window to answer the knock she heard at her door. She murmured a 'coming' as she crossed the space between her bedroom and her living room. Opening the door, she found her mentor, Tsunade, to be angry and somewhat drunk.

"Hello Sakura. Can I come in?"

"Of course, what can I help you with Shishou? Did you have a successful trip?" Sakura closely scrutinized the older woman. "What happened? Why are you drunk?"

"Please, I'm not drunk. Just because a person has a little sake after a trip, does not make them drunk."

"OK, then will you tell me what's up?"

"Sakura…on the way back to the village, we were attacked." Sakura stood as if to say something, but Tsunade stopped her. "While I could have taken them out myself, we were saved: By Uchiha Itachi."

Sakura jumped up from the chair she was in, "WHAT?!"

"That's not the worst of it. Please let me finish before you begin to speak." Sakura reluctantly sat again. "Not only did he save us, but he stopped a potential invasion by taking out the enemy ninja. Against all of my better judgment, my companions choose to escort him back to the village, and he came without a fight. On the way he conveyed to me that, of all things, he was regretful of some of the things he had done. He is now locked in a cell, awaiting the decision of the council. WHICH I can NOT change!"

Taking this as her cue to talk, Sakura said, "So what did the council decide?"

Tsunade took a deep breath.

"They have decided to grant him amnesty for all of his crimes, that he should live in the village…an-"

"WHAT?! After what he did to his family, to Sasuke?!"

Tsunade turned away from her student.

"That's not all. There was one more thing they have decreed." Tsunade chuckled sadly. "They have said that if I try and stop it in anyway, I'll be fired…"

Sakura's anger turned into confusion. "If you try to stop his living in the village?"

"No, I'll be fired if I try to stop him from marrying you."

Sakura tried to wrap her mind around what Tsunade was saying.

"What?" she said in a barely audible whisper.

"The second decree of the council was that you are to marry Uchiha Itachi. By the week's end."

Sakura lowered her head so that her face was covered by her hair. "Why me?" she whispered.

"Because, you were the only one who wasn't too old or in a relationship."

Sakura tried to fight back tears. "But I love Sasuke…"

Tsunade turned to face her. "I know…But since Sasuke abandoned the village, the council does not care if you love him or not. I'll get fired and kicked out of the village if I do anything to help you. Sakura, I'm sorry."

Sakura eyes over flowed with tears as she met Tsunade's eyes. "I'll do it."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.** *

―――

Sakura eyes over flowed with tears as she met Tsunade's eyes. "I'll do it."

Tsunade couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?"

Sakura looked away and said, "Tsunade-sama, I know that the village would not be able to survive if it weren't for you. If I try to refuse, they'll fire you, right? I guess…it has to be done."

Tsunade looked at her student. Seeing the fact that she was willing to put everything aside, her love, her freedom, for the good of the village, and it made Tsunade realize just how much she had grown.

"Alright, I prepare everything." Tsunade turned to leave. "Ahh, Sakura, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Do you want to tell your family or should I?"

"Can you do it?"

"Sure, but you have to tell Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai. Especially if I'm the one that has to tell your family and Itachi!"

Tsunade walked out of Sakura's small apartment. **God, she took ****that**** well!**

―――

Itachi looked around the window-less cell he was in. Apart from a camp bed and a bucket, it was empty. Itachi walked up to the cell door. There was chakra infused within it, and he was unable to touch it.

"Hm" **What are they doing? You would think they would have come to a fast decision, considering. **Itachi was yanked from his thoughts as Tsunade walked in front of the cell door.

Itachi was sitting on the floor as she walked into the cell and curtly addressed him, "Uchiha Itachi, the council has come to the insane decision to forgive you for all of your past crimes and…and…"

"'and' what?" he asked, patiently.

Tsunade looked at him with distaste. **I can't believe Sakura is going to marry this guy! **"And, you will get married."

Tsunade looked at his face as she said those last words. His face was emotionless, controlled, but his eyes said that he was confused. Soon enough, his expression returned to his normal, apathetic stare.

"When?"

"In three days" **Didn't he want to know who it is he's marrying?! **Tsunade thought angrily. When he said nothing more, she turned to leave.

"Hokage-sama…" Saying that felt weird to him, but he supposed he would have to get used to it. He was after all, part of the village again.

"What?" Tsunade said, exasperated.

"Who is it?"

Tsunade smiled. "Haruno Sakura, my protégé." Tsunade left without another word.

―――

The Akatsuki base had never been in such an uproar. Uchiha Itachi had abandoned the organization and been transported to Konoha, presumably under arrest. The dark cave was filled with whispers as holograms of all the remaining members waited for the arrival of their leader.

"Why would he have left?"

"Hell if I know, Kisame! Weren't you his partner?!"

"YEAH, but-!" He abruptly stopped talking as the shadowy figure of the Akatsuki Leader appeared before the group.

"As you all have figured out, Uchiha Itachi is no longer with us. Why he left is unknown. But! He will not be gone for long!" With this, a low murmur of consent and a small amount of laughing spread throughout them.

Leader wore a sinister smile as he said, "Kisame, Deidara, I want you to find Itachi, see what he is doing, then report back. Nothing more. You'll leave tomorrow."

"Right."

"Okay, yeah!"

"Good, we'll see what Itachi has done, and bring him BACK. Whether he wants to or not." The images of the Akatsuki members faded from the cave one by one, all of them with a low chuckle.

―――

Sakura walked swiftly through the village. She had left messages with Naruto and Sai to meet her at 8. She had told Kakashi to meet them at the same place, only two hours earlier. She had hoped that, with his tardiness that he would be on time for once. She looked at her watch.

**Shit, it's all ready 8:15!** She thought. **Could Kakashi-sensei's lateness be rubbing off on me? **She ran now to find her team so she could tell them the news. The fact that she was marrying Itachi, her beloved Sasuke-kun's worst enemy was a tough pill to swallow and was the reason she was late; she had been up most of the night crying. **Well, I can't cry now.** She thought bitterly. She let out a sigh as she ran. **I have to be strong, for everyone and myself.**

Sakura had arrived at her destination. There was a tall, blonde, well-built young man arguing with Kakashi. The blonde turned to a skinny and pale teen on his left and screamed, "This is the end of the world, I'm telling you!"

The white-haired jonin, Kakashi, sighed. "I'm telling you, the note I got said to be here at 6, so… I'm still okay." He said this cheerfully, and watched as Naruto, the number-one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja, stared at him in awe.

"Kakashi-sensei, you were here before I was! That is just not normal!" At this point Sai had sensed that Sakura was near.

"Hello Sakura."

Naruto ran over to her. "Sakura-chan, you're late! I knew the world was ending!"

Sakura muttered her hellos and Kakashi waved in a mutual greeting. Naruto was staring at her as if to say 'what now?', so she took a deep breath.

"Thanks for coming guys. There is something I need to tell you…"

Sakura then proceeded to tell them what Tsunade had told her the night before. When she had finished she tried to look at each of their faces; while she had talked, she had stubbornly kept her gaze on the floor. Kakashi was silent. By looking at his body, you would assume he was relaxed. Sakura knew better, she looked into his dark colored eye, the one that wasn't covered by his headband, and saw that he was troubled and upset. Sai looked tense and had closed his eyes in an attempt to register the information. Naruto, however, was not someone that Sakura had to study. Upon hearing her stop talking, he completely went berserk.

"EEEHHH?! What the hell?! Sakura-chan, you've got to be kidding me! Since when was Itachi in the village? let alone your fiancé! I can't believe this! I'm going straight to talk to Granny Tsunade! How can she let this happen? What about all the stuff he did? What about Sasuke?!" He suddenly stopped pacing. His face wore an odd expression. "No, I won't let it happen!" Naruto turned to face Sakura. "Come on." He said, grabbing her by the arm. "We'll get outta here!"

Sakura ripped her arm from his grip. She had begun to cry without realizing it. "No, Naruto."

Naruto stopped in his tracks. "What? Sakura-chan…come on."

At this point Kakashi stepped in. "Sakura, what did the council threaten to do to Tsunade? If you had refused?"

"They would fire her."

Kakashi sighed. "I figured as much." He turned to Naruto. "We can't do anything to stop it Naruto. I'm sorry."

"But Kakashi-sensei, we can't let this happen!"

"Naruto, this is my life! I told you guys what was going on not to ask your permission! I've already decided. I can't let Tsunade leave the village." Sakura turned away from her teammates. They were all stunned by the manner in which she had spoken to them. As she walked away, Sakura regretted leaving as she did. She turned around and, with tears streaming down her face, said, "You're all invited to the wedding. It's at the end of the week." Sakura thought for a moment. "God! That's in two days!" she tried to gather some cheeriness as she said, "I'll see you there, right?"

With that, Sakura left Naruto, Sai, and Kakashi to watch her walk away. A slight breeze had picked up, and tousling Naruto's blonde, spiky, hair as his eyes filled with tears.

"I guess the world really is ending…"

―――

Woo! There's chap 3! And in record breaking time! Please let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four **I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.***

―――

Sakura rolled over in her bed. After leaving her teammates, she had come home to sleep. She looked at her clock, she was only vaguely aware that when the clock said 2:15, it meant 2 am. Sakura sighed, she only had one day of freedom left, and she wasn't going to spend it crying or in bed. Sakura remembered how her mother had come to see her earlier in the day. She had wanted to talk, but Sakura had pretended to be asleep, so her mother left. **I don't really want to talk about this anymore**, she thought wryly. **If only this was a dream.** And with that thought she drifted back into a troubled sleep.

―――

The next morning Sakura left her apartment and went about her usual business. Even though many people in the village had heard, from Naruto no less, about what was going to take place the next day, they picked up on the fact that Sakura wanted to live her last day as she always had. **God, listen to me, you'd think I'm going to die, not get married!** She thought. Sakura shook her head as she walked into her favorite restaurant. She had received a note from Tsunade to meet her at the end of the day. She knew that Tsunade wanted to talk about the wedding, so Sakura was going to push that conversation back as long as possible. She had just begun to eat her ramen when Tsunade's other apprentice, Shizune, walked into the small eating house. She was a young, tall woman with short black hair, and a specialty for medical and poison ninjutsu.

"Ah, Sakura, there you are!" she said cheerfully.

"Hello"

"Tsunade-sama would like to see you."

Hearing these words, Sakura choked on the ramen she was trying to swallow. She began coughing and Shizune hit her on the back, and Sakura let out a whiny, "Why?!"

"Because there are some things about tomorrow that she'd like to discuss."

Knowing that it would cause trouble to argue, Sakura paid for her meal and followed the older woman to the Hokage's office.

―――

Itachi was sitting in the corner of the Hokage's office. He had a faint idea of why he had finally been let out of his cell. The Hokage herself wouldn't say anything, and it was her silence that told him, **I'll be meeting my wife today. **

Tsunade was sitting at her desk. She was supposed to be reading reports about the recent missions, but she wasn't really paying attention. **I thought Sakura would have come earlier. I didn't think I would have to send Shizune to find her**, the Hokage thought.

The door to the office swung open, as Shizune pushed Sakura through the door.

"Hey- Shizune!"

Tsunade leaped up from her chair. "Sakura! What took you so long?!"

"Sorry Tsunade-sama, I was trying to enjoy my day."

Tsunade's face dropped. "Oh. Well, in any case, there are some things I wanted to discuss with the two of you before tomorrow." She said sitting back in her chair.

Sakura looked slightly confused. "'Us'?"

"Yes, 'us'…"

Sakura turned her head to watch Itachi stand up and walk towards her. She looked up at him and took a few steps back. He was holding out his hand, as if to shake hers, but she was now walking slowly backwards, as you would walk away from a hungry bear.

"I-I-Itachi…" she said, terrified.

Itachi looked from Sakura to the Hokage. "I guess the idea hadn't really sunk in as well as you'd hoped."

"I guess not. Sakura!" Tsunade yelled.

Haring her mentor's voice, Sakura snapped out of her stupor. "Sorry, right." She turned back to Itachi. "He-hello."

"Hello." Itachi looked around the room. "Sooo, it looks like we're going to get married. Tomorrow."

"Yeah, looks like it."

Tsunade looked slightly upset. "Sorry to interrupt this long-winded conversation, but there are some things I need to talk to you about. Please, both of you sit."

Sakura and Itachi pulled a chair in front of the Hokage's desk, and sat. As Tsunade began to speak.

"Ok. First off, the wedding. Do you want it to be a big thing, like in a church, or would you rather just have it done with a few guests? And I doubt the two of you will want to say your vows, so-" Tsunade broke off for a moment, "I suppose you'll just be signing the marriage contracts." She looked at them expectantly.

"OK."

"Sure."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "OK, so it will be Sakura's parents, team Kakashi, me and Shizune, oh and the Head Elder, tomorrow. What time?"

Sakura and Itachi looked at each other through the corner of their eyes. "I don't care." They said at the same time.

"OK, well, it'll be at noon."

The pair only nodded. At this point Tsunade began to become annoyed.

"Now, after the wedding, were will you live?"

At this Itachi interjected. "Um, if it's not too much trouble, I would prefer if we moved into my parent's house."

Tsunade looked at him in astonishment. **This is the first request he has made.** "Why?"

Itachi looked down, "well this marriage was supposed to be so I could 'restore the clan'. So the only place I would do that would be in the place of my ancestors."

"I don't want to!" Both Tsunade and Itachi looked at Sakura. She had a look of terror on her face. **I don't want to move in with him**, she realized. **He wants to 'restore the clan', with me?! Isn't his parents house the place where he had ****killed**** his parents?** "No!"

"Sakura, I'm sorry, but you have to live with Itachi, and if that's where he wants to live…" Tsunade trailed off.

Sakura clenched her fists and looked at her lap as tears filled her eyes. "Fine." She muttered.

"As for missions, I assume many people will not be willing to have Itachi on their team, so you will join Team Kakashi."

"But Tsunade-sama, our team already has four people!"

"Yes, but Sai has requested to be a part of other teams in order to get to know some other people. I can have Itachi be on your team while he does this. At least, until the village grows used to him, then I will place him back into ANBU."

When neither Sakura, nor Itachi replied to this, she continued. "Furthermore," Tsunade's face softened as she looked at Sakura. "I know this wasn't your choice, and you're not happy about it," She looked at the both of them. "But since this is going to happen, can you try to make it work?"

Sakura muttered a "yes", but Itachi didn't say anything. Tsunade looked to him and saw he was staring intently at his fiancé. Finally, he looked Tsunade in the eyes.

"Hokage-sama, what you said is true: I don't love Sakura. And from what I can tell, she doesn't love me either. In fact, she seems somewhat scared of me." He ignored the annoyed, "Hey!" that came from Sakura. "But, since she is going to be my wife, I can assure you, I will protect her with my life."

Tsunade was a little dumbstruck. Sakura had her mouth completely open. "Wow" was the only thing either of them could say.

―――

Hey there! Here's the next chapter! Sorry it's so short, but the next one will be out soon! I can't wait, coming up is the wedding (or contract signing) and the appearance of Akatsuki in the village! Please review! Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Well, the moment you've been waiting for: The Wedding!**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought. ***

―――

Standing directly in front of the entrance to the village of Konoha, Kisame and Deidara whispered about the plan of action they were about to take.

"Kisame, the only thing Leader wanted us to do was to see what he's up to-"

"I know that, but if Itachi's here…" He trailed off. "Look, we have to get him back whether he wants to or not."

"I know, yeah, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, Leader said! Fine, we'll do it your way."

The two disappeared, heading straight off into the village.

―――

Sakura woke up at dawn. She tried to go back to sleep, but once the clock had struck 8, she had given up. **Well, I guess I better get ready**, she thought getting out of bed. Sakura ate breakfast, showered, and begun to get dressed.

She had walked to her closet when she thought, **what am I supposed to wear to my wedding? It's not like I had time to get a dress or anything!** Figuring it wouldn't really matter, Sakura picked out a nice teal kimono with a blue dragon decorating the back. She wore the same black shorts she had always worn underneath put up her hair, and prayed it would be enough.

By the time she had done this it was 10 o'clock so she decided to finish packing her things. She realized that she should have done this before she got ready but shrugged off this thought by saying she wasn't sure what time she would have finished getting ready anyways.

―――

Itachi woke with a start. After the meeting with the Hokage, he had gone to see his house and make it suitable for living once more. After spending all night cleaning, there had been a lot of dust had built up after Sasuke had left; he had fallen asleep on his couch. Itachi looked at the clock, 10:15 flashed on the screen. **Well, I guess I better get ready**, he thought as he rolled off the couch and staggered toward the room he had prepared.

―――

As 11:30 rolled around, both Itachi and Sakura finished what they were doing and, left. On the way, Sakura walked through the training ground and found Kakashi standing before the shinobi memorial stone.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

Kakashi turned around. "Oh, Sakura, aren't you supposed to be getting to your wedding?"

"Yeah, I was on my way. Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, but I was running late…"

Sakura was stunned. **Maybe I am catching Kakashi's tardiness**, she thought. "Oh."

"I still remember the first training session we had as Team 7. You know, you've grown a lot since then. But, I guess we better go."

Sakura looked toward the ground. "Yeah."

―――

The Hokage's office looked slightly different than usual. White flowers had been added to the desk and the place had been cleaned. Eight chairs had been placed out, but there was a space between them leaving four one side, four on the other. This left a makeshift aisle way were Sakura was supposed to walk through.

Sakura's parents were seated in one of the front rows. Sakura's father looked tired, and her mother was crying. Other than the fact that her hair was brown, she looked exactly like her daughter and both of them were dressed in what were their best clothes.

Sai and Naruto sat behind Sakura's parents. All though they were dressed in their usual clothes, it looked like (maybe) Naruto, at least, had tried to comb his hair. Both of them were sort of upset, though Naruto could see the cause of his frustration; Itachi had walked into the room.

The Leader of the Elder council and the woman that had compiled the list from which Sakura had been picked were sitting on the other side. The Head looked very impatient since Sakura and Kakashi were now 35 minutes late. He turned to address Tsunade, "Can't you send someone out to look for her?"

"No."

"I swear, if you've done something-"

"I didn't, and she'll be here soon. Just wait you old geezer! You didn't say anything when Itachi walked in late!"

Itachi cleared his throat, "I was, actually, here from about 12. I just didn't come inside."

"Whatever."

The door swung open and Kakashi walked in. Signaling to Tsunade, he sat next to the council woman. Shizune sat behind Kakashi as Tsunade stepped outside to speak with Sakura.

"Hey, what took you so long?"

"Nothing, I was just walking."

"Ok, I think we have to start before that old buffoon tries to fire me out of impatience."

Sakura chuckled, and then let out a sad sigh. "Alright then, let's get this other with."

The two women entered the room together. Tsunade gave Sakura a hug then left to find her seat next to Shizune. Sakura walked purposefully to the front of the room, determined not to look at anyone. Itachi abandoned his spot near the wall to join her at the front. The Head stood the farthest from the guests. He took each of Sakura and Itachi's right hand, and placed his one on top, one on the bottom of theirs, forcing them to touch.

"We have gathered here today to bind Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura in matrimony."

It was at this moment that Naruto muttered, "Against their will!" with a tone of contempt. The Elder ignored him and continued.

"From today on these two Shinobi shall be bound within a marriage that was decreed by the Elder Council of Konoha, together until death. By signing the marriage contract," He let go of their hands to pull a scroll from his shirt, "you will seal this decree and it shall come under no more observation or review." He looked at Sakura and Itachi. "Do you accept?"

Sakura and Itachi looked at each other, and then Sakura nodded her head as Itachi whispered a "yes". Sakura did not trust herself to speak at the moment. The Head placed the scroll of the desk, handed a pen to Itachi, the gestured to the place where he was supposed to sign. Once he had finished, he gave the pen to Sakura. She hesitated, but then she closed her eyes and furiously scribbled her signature down. When she had finished, she wore an odd expression, as if she was appalled at what she had just done. The Head took up the scroll, signaled to his partner and walked out of the room. The last thing he said was, "It is done." The woman left on his heels, leaving the newlyweds, Sakura's parents, and Team Kakashi in the room with the Hokage and Shizune.

―――

No one said anything or did anything for a while, except for Kakashi, who was constantly moving his hand to his pocket, were he kept his book, Come Come Paradise. Ironically, it was Kakashi who spoke first.

"So, I doubt you guys are going to go out and celebrate then?"

Sakura was slightly unnerved. **What am I supposed to do now?** She thought. She had spent a lot of time thinking how the wedding would affect her life as a whole, but she had never thought how it would affect her daily life. Tsunade let out a low growl.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going out for a drink."

"Granny Tsunade," Naruto said, somewhat annoyed. "Why don't you ask Sakura and…Itachi," Naruto said his name with obvious dislike, "what they want to do."

Realizing the impact of is words, Tsunade, and everyone in the room for that matter, were shocked by his thoughtfulness. Tsunade turned to the newly wed with a look that said "well?"

Sakura didn't want to do anything, but surely she couldn't tell them that, right? "Um…"

Taking the cue, Itachi said, "I think it's been a very eventful day. I would like to go home." He turned to Sakura, "Would you?"

Sakura was taken aback, "Ahh, yeah, home."

No one challenged this decision. Sakura said her goodbyes to her parents and to the Hokage and Shizune, and then walked out with her new husband and Team Kakashi in tow. Kakashi left once they had gone outside, claiming that he had a busy schedule as Sai left with a wave. Sakura looked from Itachi to Naruto. Itachi turned and begun to walk, expecting her to follow. Sakura quickly gave Naruto a hug, but as she turned to leave Naruto stopped her, "Sakura-chan, if you ever need anything, just ask, ok?"

Sakura looked Naruto in the eyes then gave him another hug. She whispered, "Thank you" into his ear before turning on her heel and stalking off after her husband.

―――

The two shinobi walked in silence as the approached the house. Well…mansion was more like it. Sakura was awed by the vastness of the house. It wrapped around in a rectangle had a courtyard in the center and the backyard led off to the edge of a lake. Sakura received an even greater surprise as she walked into the house, **it's so nice**, she thought. The furniture was sturdy and tasteful, and the house was spotless.

Itachi walked over to the bedroom leaving Sakura to explore through the rest of the house. Itachi was walking into the closet as Sakura came into the room, and was surprised, as was Sakura, to find that most of her things had been placed inside. Itachi retreated out of the closet declaring he was going to eat. He asked Sakura if she wanted anything, but when she refused, he nodded and left the room.

Sakura changed into her pajamas, feeling thoroughly spent. **I can't believe it actually happened**, she thought wearily. Sakura looked at the bed. **Did he expect to share a bed?** **Sharing a bed is something married couples do**. Despite these thoughts, Sakura climbed into the large bed and lay down on the far right of the bed. Hoping she had left enough room so as not to give them a reason to touch, Sakura drifted into a heavy sleep.

―――

Itachi waited until he was sure Sakura was asleep before going back into the room. He watched her sleeping form for a few minutes until movement flashed from out of the window. **Just as I thought**. Itachi left the room and quietly stole outside. He hid in the shadows with his hands inside his pockets, listening. A few moments later, two figures dashed down from the tree tops to land before the door. The shorter, and smaller of the two reached for the door, while the larger figure stood back, balancing his weight on a large club-like sword that was covered in bandages.

The first figure was about to turn the knob when Itachi let a couple of Shuriken fly at the two intruders.

"Kisame, Deidara, what are you doing here?" Itachi said as he moved from the shadows, his sharingan activated.

The smaller man walked into the moonlight, revealing his a well-built young shinobi with long blonde hair.

"It seems we no longer have the element of surprise Kisame, yeah!"

"I guess not", grumbled Kisame, as he walked into the light, displaying his shark-like features and shouldering his huge weapon.

Kisame spoke again, "Itachi, what are you doing here?"

Itachi looked away, "I'm reclaiming my life."

"Looks like your claiming more than that, yeah" Said Deidara, looking into the bedroom, watching as Sakura slept.

"That is none of your business."

"Isn't it? Itachi, Leader is not happy. You cannot just get up and leave."

"Yeah."

"Why not? I didn't want to stay anymore. It's not like I'm going to tell anyone what you're planning."

"Itachi, that is not the point."

"Well, I assume the reason you haven't knocked me out, or dragged me back to headquarters is because you two are here on recon."

"So, yeah?"

"So, what's your point?"

Itachi looked as if he was going to continue talking, but quickly stopped to appear directly in front of Deidara, "That means I can get you while you're off your guard"

Deidara's eyes widened in shock as Itachi quickly slices off his right arm with a simple shuriken. Before he can even scream, Itachi covers his mouth and whispers, "Shh, You don't want to wake her up now do you?" Deidara drops to the floor nursing his arm, as Itachi turns to Kisame.

"Kisame, we both know that I can kill you. I know all your weaknesses."

Kisame remains silent, but backs up a step or two as Itachi advances toward him.

"You can assure Leader that I won't spill any of 'our' secrets. Tell him whatever you want, I don't care. All I want is to be left alone."

It was to this comment Kisame found his voice. "Alone with your girlfriend!" He spat at Itachi.

Itachi stared at Sakura through the window as he said, "No, alone with my wife."

―――

OOooOO sorry I took a while to write, I have some major tests in school coming up, so I've been studying. Hope you guys like it, thank you to everyone that's given reviews! The next chap will be out next week!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought***

―――

Kisame picked up the bleeding Deidara, along with his dismembered arm, and vanished. He could sense form the amount of chakra behind him that Itachi was still there, watching.

"This isn't over Itachi."

"I know."

"You can't hide behind your _puny_ village forever. Leader always gets what he wants."

"Yeah, I know…"

The shark-like man vanished, re-appearing as he ran through the top branches of the trees leading out of the village**. I hope ****you**** know what you're doing Itachi**, Kisame thought wryly, **because I sure don't! **

―――

Itachi watched as Kisame and Deidara escaped the village under the cover of night. He was completely aware of the dangers that came with abandoning Akatsuki; he saw how Orochimaru had been put on the 'next-to-die' list. He knew he would have to come up with a way to remove Akatsuki from his worry list.

After cleaning the yard of all remnants of the fight, Itachi turned to go inside the house. He sauntered into the master bedroom, careful, not to wake the sleeping Sakura. Itachi changed his clothes and stood beside the right side of the bed. He moved to pull back the covers when he realized that that side was already taken.

**She looks so peaceful**, he thought. He reached his hand forward until he was close enough to touch her. He was jarred from his thoughts by a grumbling in the pit of his stomach. **Damn, I always get hungry after a fight**, he thought and Itachi used the back of his hand to move a strand of hair from Sakura's face before going to the kitchen to grab another snack.

Itachi returned to the room and silently slid into the bed. Lying on his back, Itachi stared at the ceiling.

"Sas- Sasuke-kun."

Itachi turned his head, frowning. **So she's dreaming about him, huh?** Itachi shook his head**. What is the matter with me? You'd think I was jealous.** Itachi twisted his head to look at the girl sleeping beside him. He had to admit he wasn't the same person that left the village all those years ago; he wasn't even the same person who had re-entered the village last week. **Could it be her? There's no way. I just met her. I'll just have to try to act more like myself**, he thought as he drifted into sleep.

―――

**No, **Sakura thought**, I don't want to wake up yet. I'm so comfortable here. Why am I so comfortable? My bed is ****never**** this nice.** Sakura opened her eyes a bit to see what it was that was making her so comfortable. Her eyes widened as she found the source of comfort. Itachi was shirtless, and sound asleep, but Sakura was sprawled out over his (toned and chiseled) chest. Sakura tried to move but Itachi had his arm around her waist, holding her in place. **Oh no! What am I gonna do? Sakura thought as she began to panic.** She remembered rolling over during the night, but how was she supposed to get out of this?

Sakura reached around to grab Itachi's arm. **God, his arm is heavy!** She was placing his arm next to her when she heard a voice,

"What are you doing?"

Sakura felt a jolt roll down her spine as she jumped out of bed.

"Jeez, you scared me!"

"Sorry." Itachi was sitting up now, but he was, clearly, still tired. He stared at Sakura as she tried to return her breathing back to normal. After she had calmed down, Itachi pulled the covers around his head and muttered an "I'm going back to sleep" and rolled onto his stomach.

Slightly disgruntled by the fact that she had gotten worked up for nothing, Sakura left the bedroom in search of the kitchen. After stumbling into five unused rooms and two bathrooms, Sakura finally found the kitchen. The room was a cool, open room with two windows facing out of the house. After finding the shelves to be fully stocked, Sakura began to cook. It was rare that Sakura cooked a whole meal; it was usually just a piece of toast as she ran out the door.

A few minutes had passed before she began to think of the day ahead. **Does the fact we're married mean I have to spend every waking hour with him? What if I wanted to be alone? I still have to go back to my apartment and make sure everything's out! Geez, I can't wait until Tsunade-sama sends me out on a mission!** Now sufficiently annoyed at her new husband, Sakura finished cooking and sat at the low table, eating vigorously.

―――

**It's no use**, Itachi thought, **I can't fall back asleep.** Getting up and putting on a shirt, Itachi chuckled as he remembered the look on Sakura's face when she had woken him up. Deciding that he was hungry once more, he wandered into the kitchen to find Sakura eating at the table.

He made his way to the pantry when he heard Sakura clear her throat. Itachi looked over his shoulder as she casually jerked her head in the other direction. He followed her gaze to a plate of food that was sitting on the counter.

"Oh, thanks."

Sakura just turned back to her food. Itachi joined her at the table, and begun to eat. Once she had finished, Sakura continued to sit, playing with her fork. After a few minutes of silence, Sakura placed her fork on the plate as Itachi finished eating.

When Sakura spoke she talked faster than normal, "I have to go to my apartment today."

"I thought they moved all your stuff out" Itachi said.

"Yeah, but I only saw my stuff, I was going to see were my furniture went"

"Okay"

Sakura was caught off guard by his sudden consent.

"Oookay. Thanks." Sakura pushed herself up from the table, grabbed her plate, and then after a second thought, grabbed Itachi's plate too. She crossed the length if the kitchen, threw the plates in the sink, then stalked out of the room.

**What was that about?** Itachi wondered. **Maybe she's having one of those "exclamation points". No, "periods". I guess deciding to separate myself from her was a good decision!**

―――

Sakura walked up the stairs to her old apartment. Turning the corner at the top of the stairs, she was too involved in her thought to notice that there was someone standing in the middle of the hallway (At least, not until she had bumped into them.)

"Agghhh!"

"Ummph!"

Sakura's butt hit the floor hard. The person that she had bumped into dropped the end of the couch he was holding since he was now face down on the floor. Sakura slowly pushed herself up off the ground, wondering who the heck had been in her way.

"Sorry, I didn't see you, annnd…WHAT are you doing with MY couch!"

Kakashi poked his head out from the doorway to Sakura's apartment.

"Oh, Sakura, I thought I heard your voice. We were just moving your furniture."

"We?" Sakura looked down to find Naruto getting up, rubbing his behind from where he had fallen.

"Hello Sakura-chan!" Naruto, despite being hurt, smiled at her. He walked over to her and gave her a hug. Sakura was surprised, and so was Kakashi.

"Naruto, I told you to be nice to her, not freak her out!"

"But sensei, I was being nicer than usual." He looked at Sakura, "I always try to be nice to you Sakura-chan!" Sakura let out a soft chuckle and walked around to get a better view of Kakashi, who was busy lifting one end of her couch, single-handed.

"Where are you taking the rest of my stuff?" she asked timidly.

"Hokage-sama was going to take care of that. All we have to do is move it where she tells us. Speaking of the Hokage, she wants us to go on our first mission tomorrow night. We're to pick up a package that'll be ready then and bring it back here before morning. Nothing special, pretty routine."

At this Naruto became slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, it's only gonna be C-rank or something! What's up with that?!"

"I assume it's because we'll have Itachi with us so she won't want us doing anything important until we get used to him," Kakashi sighed.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Damn Itachi."

Seeing Naruto, Sakura couldn't help laughing. A small grin spread onto Naruto's face as Sakura's laughter lightened the mood.

"So Sakura-chan, how'd it go?" Naruto asked with a sly grin. Kakashi looked at Naruto with an expression somewhere between amusement and surprise in is visible eye.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"You know," Naruto pretended to be keeping a look out, "last night. Hehe!" He covered a chuckle and looked over at Kakashi.

Finally catching his meaning, Sakura felt her face redden in embarrassment. "Naruto, you perv!" She reached over and landed a punch to the back of his head that sent him flying into a nearby wall. Sakura looked over at Kakashi as he chuckled, looking at Naruto's growing bump.

"What are YOU laughing at?!"

Kakashi turned to see a fuming Sakura walking straight towards him. "Oh me? Nothing! Nothing!"

Sakura's embarrassment and annoyance left as she walked into her old apartment. Some of the furniture had been moved out, and all of her personal items were gone, which made looking at it somewhat depressing.

"Anyways, I'll help you guys finish here then we'll go get some lunch, OK?"

Kakashi, pulling Naruto to his feet and telling the young man that he had "brought this upon himself", turned to face Sakura. "Sure, my treat."

This alone was enough to revive Naruto because between Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura, the job was finished within a half an hour.

―――

Walking away from the now empty apartment, Naruto led the way to his favorite ramen bar.

"Ichiraku Ramen, here I come!" The blonde teenager raced off to the restaurant.

Kakashi leaned in the whisper to Sakura, "Don't tell him, but I only agreed to pay for you. I can't wait till he orders a ton of food!" Chuckling, Kakashi went ahead into the shop.

As Sakura walked into the small restaurant, she took a seat in between Naruto and Kakashi.

"Old man, I'll have two deluxe ramen bowls please!" Naruto yelled to the owner.

"Two, Naruto?" He asked in amazement.

Naruto shook his head in agreement. "Yeah, yeah. Kakashi-sensei is buying!"

Kakashi and Sakura ordered their food and the three ate in a pleasant silence. As soon as Sakura had put down her bowl, Kakashi gave her a little nod. He pulled out enough money to pay for their two meals and sneaked out of the restaurant.

The old man picked up the money as Sakura and Kakashi stood just out of Naruto's sight. The blonde teenager looked around for his teammates.

"EEEEHHHH!! Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, where'd you go!!"

The old man smiled from behind the counter and waited for Naruto to pay for his food. Slowly, and looking as if he was about to cry, Naruto pulled out his frog-shaped wallet and grudgingly paid for his expensive meal. He walked outside as Sakura was busting up, laughing and Kakashi was chuckling.

"Kakashi-sensei, that WASN'T funny!!"

"Yes it was."

Naruto crossed his arms. "You're mean, just like Ero-senin!"

Kakashi smiled. "Well, since Jyiara-sama was the sensei of my sensei, you would think I'd inherit something from them! But anyway, we should all go home and prepare for the mission. We'll all meet at the bridge, tomorrow at 10. See you guys!" He said cheerfully. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

―――

OOOOoooOOOO. Thanks for being so patient with me you guys! Here is the latest chapter, sorry if there's not much happening. Next chapter should be out soon now that I got my life back!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven **I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Ok everyone, sorry about the long-ness of my absence**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.***

―――

After departing from her friends, Sakura walked back to her new house. She walked as slowly as she could since she was not at all anxious to go see Itachi. **I guess I'll have to tell him to prepare for the mission**, she thought. With an out ward sigh, Sakura continued her walk to the Uchiha house.

It was so nice to talk to Kakashi-sensei and Naruto. With this whole thing going on, it was nice to know that they would be by her side. **Still though, I wonder how this mission is gonna go!**

―――

Itachi was busy unpacking. While the house had gotten cleaned, that didn't mean that his stuff was there. After the death of his family, all the clothes and belongings had been packed up and set aside in their respective rooms. Today it was his job to move all of his parent's old things out and bring his and Sakura's stuff in. **I had better get rid of all the clothes since we both have our own**, he thought**. I don't think Sakura would want to keep any of my mom's old clothes, and I won't need any of Sasuke's baby clothes. **He thought with a small smile.

After he had finished, the room was filled with only things that belonged to the new couple. Moving the last of the boxes into another room to be dealt with another day, Itachi realized how late it was. **So**, he thought, **she's still not back yet. Humph, she must have been really angry this morning to not come back by now. Well, she made breakfast; I guess I better make dinner. **

He made his way to the kitchen intending to make a simple dinner when he was stopped in his tracks. Sakura was sitting at the table eating a huge bowl of take-out ramen. Itachi frowned for two reasons, first he wanted to make dinner as a way to repay for the morning, and second, because she had come back and eaten without telling him. Still frowning, he walked around the table to face her.

"There's more on the counter." She said between mouthfuls. Itachi glanced to the counter were he saw his food for a second before he turned on her.

"How come you didn't tell me you were going to bring food back? Or that you were back for that matter?" he said in a quiet, yet annoyed voice.

Sakura's expression changed to surprise in mid-bite, which left her with food in hand and a noodle hanging slightly out of her mouth. Swallowing the noodle, and putting down her bowl.

"Excuse me?"

**What is the matter with me? **He thought**. I'm getting upset over this?** He composed himself and replied,

"Nothing. I was just going to prepare dinner and was surprised that you were," he stopped short of the word 'home'. That's right, this isn't her home. Her home had been in the apartment she had visited earlier today. To her, this must be just some place she has to live.

"I was just surprised that you were back." He finished, lamely.

Sakura eyed him for a moment. "Oh. Well, if you feel that strongly, you can just make breakfast and dinner tomorrow." She said, a little wary.

"Fine."

Sakura got up to wash her bowl as Itachi sat down to eat. "So, we have a mission tomorrow night. We'll meet at ten." He merely looked at her. "You know, get a package, and bring it back. Pretty routine."

"Okay."

**OOOooKkkaaayyy**, she thought. **This guy's weird. He shows up super chatty, and then all of a sudden doesn't talk. Time to try out those relationship skills Ino is always telling me about. **Sakura sat back down at the table as Itachi continued to eat.

"So, all the stuff is moved out of my apartment."

"That's good."

"Umm, what did you do today?"

"Nothing. Just some cleaning…"

"Oh, okay." Sakura could see that he had used up all of his talking tokens in that short time so she turned her concentration to preparing for the mission. **I guess we'll get nowhere fast**, she thought wryly.

―――

After another awkward night's sleep, the couple got up and spent an uneventful day in separate rooms of the house. The two ate a hasty, yet tasty, meal in silence around 8:30 and began to pack for the upcoming mission.

Sakura prepared her pack with all the necessary medical and attack supplies she needed to support her team in an emergency and left all her things by the door. It was now 9:15, if they didn't leave now they might have to face the humiliation of arriving after Kakashi. **That's not something I want on my record**, she thought. **Honestly, people might start saying that I'm becoming like him!**

"Are you ready yet?!" She yelled from the doorway. Next thing, Itachi walks around the corner wearing, what looks to be, his old ANBU outfit. Sakura can't help but stare as he saunters toward her with his white ANBU vest over his high collared shirt. On his arms he wore guards that ran from his wrist to past his elbow that could easily be used for protection, as well as attack.

"A little over dressed, aren't you?" Sakura snickered.

"Hm. Let's go."

―――

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Great, you're here!" Naruto yelled as he ran toward her.

"Hi Naruto, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi walked up beside Naruto.

"Hello Sakura, Itachi." Itachi nodded his head and Kakashi elbowed Naruto in the ribs.

"Oww, *sigh* hi… Itachi."

"Well, now that we're all here let's get started." Kakashi took a slow breath. "We'll be leaving the village to head to a city on the southern border. We'll only have about 8 hours to do this, so we'll need to get to the city in 3 hours. That will leave approximately 1 hour to retrieve the package for the Hokage and 4 hours to get back. Any questions?"

Naruto looked slightly confused. "Yeah, why do we need to take that long on the way back? It couldn't be because SOME of us have been out of the game for a while, has it?" He threw his gaze toward Itachi, but he seemed unfazed.

Sakura slapped her hand to her face in frustration. "Naruto, we don't know how big the thing is, or how much it's gonna slow us down."

"Oh."

Kakashi sighed. **Couldn't they refrain from fighting until we leave the village?** "Well, if we're all clear…let's go."

―――

Running along the tree line toward the southern border of the land of fire, Team Kakashi shot toward their destination. Naruto, of course, was in the lead, unwilling to be anything other than ahead of Itachi; Kakashi followed from behind leaving Itachi and Sakura in the middle.

**Damn Itachi**, Naruto thought. **I know this is his fault! **"Oi, Kakashi-sensei! I can see the town up ahead!"

Kakashi moved into the lead. "Okay everyone. We're looking for a man named Rainer. The Hokage said he has a huge scar across his face. He's her friend so he's safe to approach and she said that Sakura will be able to find him."

Hearing this Sakura was slightly confused and almost crashed into a tree. "She said what?"

"She emphasized that they have similar interests, whatever that means."

Naruto and Sakura exchanged a look and Sakura snickered before talking. "Alright everyone, we'll be checking all the bars, restaurants, and gambling houses in town."

Laughing Naruto said, "Yeah, when me and the Ero-senin were looking for Granny Tsunade, we found her in a bar."

Chuckling, the ninjas arrived in the village and began their search.

―――

After searching at several questionable establishments, Team Kakashi entered a bar that their target was rumored to visit every night. Walking between the tables the group casually glanced over the occupants of the bar. They didn't want to make a scene or cause a panic as to why four armed ninjas were searching for someone.

Itachi stopped walking and pointed to the corner or the bar where a man with a scar running down the side of his face sat next to a brown package that stood to the middle of the table and was half as wide.

"Well, that's not bad to carry" Kakashi sighed. "It looks kind of heavy, though."

Sakura ignored him and strode over to the man. "Hello, are you Rainer?"

The man looked up at her. He was clearly drunk as the next second he was hugging Sakura and saying, "Tsunade, you didn't have to come all the way out here yourself!"

"Um, I'm not Tsunade" Sakura breathed. "I'm her student. Please put me down!"

The man released her and looked at Sakura closely. "Oh yeah, I guess you're not her. Sorry!" The man smiled.

While Sakura understood, and Kakashi was surprised, yet amused, Naruto was outraged.

"EEHHH?! How could you mistake Sakura-chan for Granny Tsunade?? Sakura-chan is much prettier and-!"

"Naruto, that's enough. I can handle things without you 'defending my honor' or whatever you want to call it." She turned back to Rainer. "Um, we're here to pick up the package. Is that it?" She pointed to the brown object.

He looked to the package she was pointing at. He chuckled. "This? No that's some food I'm taking home. No, yours is in the back 'cause it was really heavy."

Kakashi's head dropped. "Great."

―――

Finally the team was able to head off back toward the village. Kakashi, of course, was carrying the large package: which, in itself, wasn't all that big but was heavy. The team fell back into position and was looking forward to finishing the mission. Naruto looked back from the front.

"Hey, when we get back let's go out for breakfast!"

Since everyone was more hungry than tired, this sounded like a good plan.

"And then we'll have to continue training for whatever mission comes next!" he said, but ever since the word breakfast, no one was listening. They were too busy thinking of what they were going to eat. Well, everyone except for Itachi. Using his time to focus on more than the next meal, the ex-ANBU was sensing his surroundings for any trace of pursuit. This focus paid off as 3/4 of the way to the village, time was running out and Itachi sensed the chakra of at least 6 oncoming ninja. Evidently, Kakashi sensed them as well as he turned his head toward the direction of their pursuers.

"We're being followed." Itachi stated.

Kakashi started slowing down. "Seems like 5 or 6 of them. Though, they don't seem to have very much chakra. I think you guys could take'em."

Naruto, who had not slowed down, turned back to talk with the others. "What do you mean 'us'?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, I am carrying this incredibly heavy box…and I want to see what you guys can do together. Just remember, we don't have a lot of time."

"Kakashi-sensei, that is not fair." Sakura said. She sighed. "Let's get this over with. Itachi? Naruto? Any plans?"

Naruto came up with nothing, as usual, but Itachi thought for a second. "OK, we'll set up an ambush right here and catch them off guard. We'll need to capture them, not render them unconscious, so that way we'll be able to see why they're after this thing" he said pointing at the large box strapped to Kakashi's back.

Naruto suddenly jumped up. "Alright everyone, let's go!"

Sakura knocked him on the back of the head. "Naruto, it wasn't you plan, don't try to take charge!" Naruto laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But Sakura-chan! I just wanted to get everyone moving! We only have about an hour and a half to get back."

"Uhuh, sure!"

―――

Concealed among the trees, Team Kakashi waited for the ninja to fall into place. There was a bristling in the coming from the direction of Rainer's village as 2 3-man squads of cloud village ninjas stepped into a clearing; right into the their trap.

Sakura whispered into her mini-mic, "OK everyone, they're looking to see which direction we went in. We'll attack on three."

Naruto jumped up from his hiding place, "Forget that, I'm heading in." He brought his hands together to form the hand seal to focus his chakra. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" He yelled alerting the enemy below as his clones appeared.

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto you idiot. You don't need to show off."

Naruto leaped onto the enemy and tried to corner them or pin them to the ground. After a few minutes, Naruto was all out of clones and was about to be corned by the foreign ninja. Nonetheless, Naruto stood his ground and shouted at the enclosing cloud shinobi. "Why are you after us?" he yelled.

One of them laughed, "Why would we tell you?" As Naruto was about to get beaten to a pulp, Kakashi signaled to Sakura.

"This is taking too long. Finish them off please?"

Sakura smiled at him, "Sure, why not?" Sakura gathered up all the chakra she could into her right fist and yelled, "Naruto, you better move!" Naruto jumped back into the trees, but as the other shinobi were looking up, Sakura had already jumped. She slammed her fist into the ground before the 6 ninja and forced all off her chakra out. The sheer force of the chakra blew a hole in the ground that shook the forest and knocked her opponents unconscious**. Exactly what we were not supposed to do, but we were running out of time!** She thought.

When the dust had finally cleared, Kakashi and Itachi were already finished binding them. Itachi stared at his wife as she walked toward them.

"Sorry, I know you wanted them awake, but it's their own fault that they didn't move in time!" She said defensively as she wiped dirt off her clothes. "I'm sure you can wake one up though."

**I can't believe she had this much power**, Itachi thought as he looked around. **She completely destroyed this place. There isn't an untouched piece of ground in sight! And here I thought her only power was her wit! Not like she needs to work on that either.**

"Um, yeah" Itachi said quietly. "I'll wake one up."

He walked over to the smallest looking one in the group. Generally speaking, they were usually only the brains and more susceptible to questioning. He grabbed him and shook the ninja awake.

"Huh, what-?"

"We have you cornered." He said pulling the man up by his short. "Why were you after us?"

"Um, well… We wanted…" He trailed off.

"YES?"

"The box, we wanted the box!" He said in a squeaky voice.

**At least this one's answering my questions**, He thought. **That way I don't have to use any jutsu. He's scared of us.** Itachi looked toward Kakashi. "You got any questions?"

"Actually, I do." Kakashi turned to the man. "Why did you want the box? Do you even know what's in there?"

"Um, no, but we heard it was for the Hokage, so we figured it must be worth something."

**So**, Kakashi thought, **they weren't on a mission, the just wanted to score some points by taking this thing from us.** "Well, it's your lucky day."

"Why?" He asked nervously, and then he cheered up. "Are you gonna give us the box?"

"Ha-ha, no. We're gonna let you live." Kakashi signaled to Itachi, who swiftly knocked him out.

Naruto, once again, looked confused. "Why are we gonna let them go?"

"Because they have no information, no reason to want this thing, and they don't really present a threat to us. Plus we need to get back But don't worry Naruto, someone will find them when they come to see how Sakura demolished this place." He turned to go, "Come on let's go."

―――

The team arrived at the village shortly after with no incident. They went to deliver the box to the Hokage and give her their report.

The Hokage began laughing when she heard what happened. "So, someone wanted this thing?" she said pointing to her package. "And Naruto got his butt kicked?"

"Granny Tsunade that is NOT what happened! I was out numbered!"

"How could YOU be out numbered? You use you Kage Bunshin!"

Sakura stepped forward with a mocking smile at Naruto. "Tsunade-sama, what is in the box?"

At this the Hokage got excited, "Ohh, I'll show you! I've waited for it for a while." She undid the box and stepped aside with a 'Ta-da' and revealed what looked to be a table top version of a slot machine. "Isn't it cool?"

"Aggghh! Tsunade-sama! That's what you sent us to get!"

Tsunade looked hurt. "No that's not all! This is from the Daimyo of the next country! We did an important mission and this was a present for helping them. This slot machine represents the ongoing friendship of our two countries, which is essential to the success of the village! Plus, it's a piggy bank!"

Kakashi sighed. **She just wanted her new toy!**

"Granny Tsunade, you just can't use us for little things like that!" said Naruto pouting. "I'm leaving!" the blonde ninja said indignantly as he turned on his heel and left.

Sakura gave an inward sigh before saying, "Tsunade-sama, if Shizune sees that she'll take it away. You better hide it. I'm going home." And with that, Sakura and Itachi began the walk home. As the door was closing, Sakura heard the Hokage gasp and ask Kakashi, "You don't think she'd do that, do you?"

―――

Woo. Well, here's the next chapter. Sorry for the wait! But I'm finally getting back into the swing of things! C u guys next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight** I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.***

―――

Itachi and Sakura walked in silence through the village. Both were sufficiently tired, not from the difficulty of the mission, but from the mayhem that had ensued at the finish. As they walked, Itachi was reflecting on the events of the mission. In the end, he figured that the mission had gone better that he could have imagined, despite the fact that the mission in itself was entirely pointless. **I guess I may be able to make this new team work**, he thought. **I just can't underestimate my, um, wife. I could be in for trouble if she ever gets mad at me!**

"Um, Sakura?"

Sakura, who had been thinking of the past 12 hours as well, did not even look up when Itachi spoke to her. "What?"

"Are you hungry?"

Sakura finally looked up and gave a tiny smile. "Starved."

Itachi pulled her gently by the arm. "Come on, let's eat."

Sakura glanced quickly at the hand pulling her toward the opposite side of the street before following his lead. She was surprised at how comfortable it was for him to lead her. Almost as surprised as Itachi was by the fact that she did not object to his touch. The two made their way to a small eating house and ordered their food. It was still early so the place was still empty, which gave Itachi and Sakura the chance to talk without any interruptions.

"So…" Itachi said, with no particular question in mind. "Um…How long have you been on a team with Kakashi and Naruto?"

Sakura played with her water glass as she spoke. "Well, since I was 12, but the team kinda fell apart when, um," She cleared her throat. "And then Naruto left to train and I was training with Tsunade-sama. We only reformed the team after Naruto got back."

Itachi could see her face turning red. "So the team fell apart after my brother left the village?"

Sakura looked at him in surprise.

"You know, Sakura, I don't mind hearing about Sasuke. But if you don't want to talk about him that's fine."

"No, I'm fine, I just…" She trailed off.

Itachi could see she was uncomfortable, but he wanted to know something and wasn't ready to let her off the hook. Careful to keep his tone casual he asked, "Did you love him?"

Sakura was taken aback by the forwardness of his question. "Um, well…" But she was spared from an immediate answer by the arrival of their food. Sakura could see that Itachi had not begun eating and was sure he was waiting for an answer. Sakura sighed and said "Yes, I did."

Itachi was slightly disappointed by this answer, though he didn't show it. "And do you still love him?"

Sakura stared into her plate. "I- I don't know. It's complicated."

"How is it complicated?" He asked, trying to sound casual, but he couldn't hide the underlying tone of annoyance in his voice.

Sakura looked up to meet his gaze, and Itachi was thrown off guard by the tears he saw welling up in her eyes. "I thought I loved him, but he always treated me like a nuisance, even though we were on the same team. For awhile, I thought he might have begun to like me, if not tolerate me." She paused to breathe deeply, fighting back the tears before she continued. "It's just, now I don't know how I feel. Though, I know I don't feel the same as I did before he left." She gave a small laugh, "Sometimes, I think that if I were to see him again, I'd want to punch him in the face, but then start crying."

She turned her head to her food when she had finished talking and began to eat.

Itachi sat for a minute feeling like an idiot before eating his food, as well. As he ate, Itachi wondered if he had been wrong to interrogate her that way. He couldn't figure out any reason that it might bother him so much that she had almost started crying at the thought of his younger brother. It upset him because she seemed to still have feelings for Sasuke, upset him because his stupid brother had caused her so much pain, and unsettled him because he seemed to care so much.

**I know Sasuke is going to find me here. It's only a matter of time**. Itachi gave an internal sigh. **When he comes, I know he'll be surprised at who I'm married to, and I know I'll have to kill him. I just hope when that day comes Sakura doesn't completely hate me; I'm really starting to like her.**

―――

A few days had passed since Itachi and Sakura's chat at breakfast, and things began to settle down for them. Although the two had not really spoken since the restaurant, they were beginning to understand how they were going to live their lives. They alternated between cooking meals, and cleaning, so as not to let the load fall too much on one of them. Sakura learned that Itachi liked to be left alone for much of the day, but did not like having nothing to do, and Itachi found that Sakura liked to take off in the morning and walk around the village and its surrounding areas, and while she normally did this alone, she did not mind having company.

Besides spending mealtimes together, the couple attempted to spend time together before the end of the night, when they would spend an awkward half-hour staring at each other saying things like "So…" and "Yeah…" before giving up and going to sleep.

This particular evening, Sakura was filling the silence by telling Itachi of how the hokage had tracked her down in the middle of the village.

"Then she started yelling about how she needed my advice for stuff. More like needs me to do the work she doesn't want to!" Sakura laughed.

"So does that mean you're going back to work?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah, Tsunade-sama said that today was my last day of my vacation," She threw finger quotations around the last word, "So I guess I'd better show up tomorrow. Which is too bad, I was getting used to the silence."

Itachi smirked at what he could tell was a sarcastic jab on his conversation habits.

"So what time will you be home then?" He asked.

"Oh, I don't know," She said with a sigh. "Though, I can come back for lunch as usual if you want."

"Alright, that's fine."

"Okay, it's a deal. You get to make me lunch!"

Itachi did a double take. "But tomorrow's your turn." He said in his usual slow voice.

But Sakura wasn't listening; she had jumped up from the couch and bounded out of the living room. Itachi tried to call her back but Sakura only responded with a "G'night!" leaving Itachi sitting alone in the room.

**Sometimes that girl acts so weird**, he thought as he got up to join her in the next room.

―――

Ok, here you are! Sorry it's short! But things are gonna start happening real soon! Thank you to everyone for your reviews!


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine **I do not own Naruto

***Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.***

―――

The next morning, Sakura awoke and left for work. Both Tsunade and Shizune were glad to see her; Tsunade, because she had been worried about her, and Shizune, because she had gotten landed with all the work Sakura usually had.

When Sakura walked into the Hokage's office there was no celebration, no flurry of hugs or welcome; the Hokage was sitting behind two mountains of paperwork.

"Sakura, good morning." She pointed to the paper pile on her left. "These are for you. Shizune is already working on her pile over there."

Sure enough, as Sakura followed the Hokage's gaze, she saw her sempai working through an equally large stack of paper. Shizune looked up and gaze Sakura a smile before turning back to her work.

Sakura grudgingly picked up her pile and sat at her desk to begin her work. **Welcome back Sakura, how was your vacation? **She thought to herself bitterly. **Not bad,** she answered herself in a mock-cheeriness, **not bad at all, if you like spending almost a whole work-free week filled with awkward silences as you try to get to know your randomly-picked new husband!** Grumbling to herself, Sakura set off to work.

―――

Itachi glanced at the kitchen clock. It was 12:45, Sakura was late for lunch. He couldn't really say he was angry, they had never set a time for when they would eat. But he was surprised that she hadn't gotten her break. Surely, being at work since 6 am would constitute a break before 1, right?

Itachi looked over the meal he had prepared. He had discovered Sakura's favorite foods within a week and planned this meal as a special 'back-to-work' treat. He knew it would be one of the last times he could make a lavish meal as this in the middle of the day; he planned on resuming his daily training in order to keep himself in top condition. In fact, he had spent the morning clearing out the training ground he had used as a kid.

He was drawn from his thoughts as he sensed Sakura approaching the kitchen. She walked in looking mentally tired, and threw herself down at the table, muttering.

Itachi raised his eyebrows. "Hello to you too."

Sakura shot him a dangerous look before yelling, "Paperwork! Reports! Err! Shizune told me! Tsunade spent the entire week doing nothing, so when I got there, there was a week's worth of paperwork to handle!" Sakura took a deep breath. "At least we got it all finished, though. That's what took me so long. Sorry"

"No problem, I was just worried your food would get cold." He pointed to her plate.

Sakura could see that he had made her favorite foods. Her face softened. "Thank you, Itachi."

Sakura picked up her fork and began to eat.

―――

Kisame stood outside the cave that served as one of the Akatsuki bases. After returning with the news of Itachi's response, Leader had been keen on finding a way to teach him a lesson.

"_Leader, Itachi attacked both me and Deidara, and confirmed, himself, that he had betrayed us willingly."_

"_Very well, then it seems we will have to find a way to force him to return. You did say Itachi was granted a new place in the village?" Leader asked._

"_Yes, and, if I'm not mistaken, he has gotten married as well."_

"_Well, well, well. That could work to our-" He suddenly stopped talking. He seemed to be listening to something outside the base._

"_What-?" Kisame suddenly stopped as he sensed it too. He smirked as he realized whose chakra it was. _

"_Trying to sneak up on us, eh? Uchiha Sasuke!"_

_Out of the shadows, Sasuke walked into the center of the room. He looked toward the holographic form of the Akatsuki Leader, and then to the blue-colored man he knew to be Itachi's partner._

"_Where's Itachi?" He demanded softly. He seemed entirely unfazed by their presence._

_Leader stared at the young Uchiha. "We were actually just talking about him. Though, I'm surprised you made it this far before I could sense you. You've grown."_

"_Yeah, whatever," Sasuke crossed his arms. "Where's my good-for-nothing brother. I won't ask again."_

_Kisame caught Leader's eye before speaking. "You mean you haven't heard?" He laughed. "Your brother left the organization. He's back with your puny village!"_

_Sasuke was taken aback by this bit of information, but in this company, he kept up his guard._

"_And I suppose you're going to tell me he's got himself a girlfriend!"_

_Although No one could see it, Leader smiled. "No, not a girlfriend. A Wife." _

Kisame knew that Leader had told the young Uchiha enough to get a reaction out of him. **Leader is gonna use Itachi's brother against him**. Kisame sighed.

―――

Sasuke ran through the forest at full speed toward his base. He had to admit, he was surprised that Itachi had crawled his way back to the village, and even more surprised that they had let him! Sasuke relished in the fact that the Akatsuki leader was conspiring with him to take his brother down. **I guess what they say is true**, Sasuke thought, laughing maniacally, **the enemy of my brother IS my friend, for now. **

"_So young Sasuke, does that sound like a plan? We'll infiltrate the village and kidnap your brother's 'bride'. We'll have to wait for awhile though."_

"_And why's that?" Sasuke sneered._

"_Because, if we move prematurely there may be a chance Itachi will simply allow his wife to be taken, and we don't want that. No, we want to wait until he becomes attached to her, maybe even begins to love her, then we strike."_

"_Hmm. Then I'll take him out before he can get to her."_

His mind reeled as he began to plan his brother's downfall**. I'll want to mess with him as much I can!** **Akatsuki said they'd take of kidnapping his little 'family'. That'll be enough to lure him into my trap.** He quickly changed directions and smiled evilly.

―――

Hatake Kakashi walked through Konoha with his nose in a book. He was going to a meeting with the Hokage concerning Team 7's recent missions. He walked into her office and placed his book into his pouch.

"Hokage-sama, you wanted to see me?"

Tsunade looked up from her desk to smile at Kakashi. "Ah, yes! I wanted to ask you of how the team is doing. You know... are the missions going smoothly, are they getting along?"

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Well, yes the missions are going better than usual. But, um, when you say 'are they getting along' do you mean Naruto and Itachi, or Sakura and Itachi?"

Tsunade hung her head playfully, "I'm busted. I meant both. How is everyone getting along with Itachi?"

"Well, they have no problem with teamwork. Though, I'd have to say that because Naruto is becoming less threatened by Itachi. In fact, the other day Naruto told Itachi a joke."

Tsunade looked puzzled. "So, did he laugh?"

"Well, no, but he smiled. Anyways, the missions when Sai comes along, those two never really talk. Which I guess is good since whatever Sai says is either negative or relative to the mission."

Tsunade began to get impatient. "And?"

Kakashi finally understood which bit of information she was waiting for.

"And Itachi and I are getting on pretty well." He said, purposely drawing out his answer. "He takes orders, but thinks for himself and gives suggestions-"

"KAKASHI! Get ON with it!"

"Oh, that's what you wanted. Well, overall, Itachi and Sakura seem to be getting closer to each other. But if you wanted to know how their relationship is going, why don't you ask her? It's been two months since they've been together, she should be open to talk."

Tsunade looked surprised. "Well, I –I. It's just," Tsunade sighed, "I just don't want her to think I'm meddling. It's already my fault she had to change her entire life."

"Hokage-sama, if you ask me, Itachi seems to be getting along with the team, the people of the village, and it seems…that Sakura and Itachi's relationship have reached the point of friends, if not acquaintances."

"Thank you Kakashi, hopefully now I won't worry so much."

―――

Sakura turned over in bed to view the sleeping form of the man next to her. He was sleeping on his side so that he faced her. So much had changed since they had gotten married. Not only were she lived or who she was on a team with, but how she lived.

**I had thought that Sasuke was the only one for me,** she thought as she moved to touch his hair, but stopped. **Maybe I was wrong.**

Sakura softly got out of bed, trying not to wake him and began to get dressed. **I never would have guessed he could do anything except be a ninja, or murderer,** she mused. **And I never would have guessed he could be so easy to talk with!**

She remembered all the times in the past two months were she had poured out thoughts to him. They had talked about everything they could think of, whether the topic be as insignificant as ice cream flavors, as profound as their newest mission, or as ridiculous as how long it would take for the village to die if Naruto ever became Hokage. Sakura was very interested to learn they had the same interests in books, though neither had much time to read. While Sakura helped Tsunade out between missions, Itachi trained.

While Sakura had been lost in thought, Itachi woke up. He turned his head to look at Sakura. He watched how she moved across the room and was amazed at how she had put up with him for so long. **After so long, I've finally found someone who may be able to understand me.** Itachi got out of bed as a bird flew away from outside the window.

―――

woo! look out for the next chappie!


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten **I do not own Naruto

**Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.**

**Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought.**

―――

Sakura Studied Itachi as he ate his breakfast. She had noticed his, "idiosyncrasies" from the time they had been together, but it was lately that she realized what she was seeing. She had noticed that when he walked he touched the objects around him and, at first; it had seemed that he was memorizing the layout of the house and village out of nostalgia. But on this day, Sakura realized that Itachi was reaching out to actually see. Was he having trouble with his eyes? Sakura thought, Could he be going blind? This thought disturbed her as she dwelled on it. She couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost her eyesight.

"Itachi?"

"Hm?"

"Are you alright?"

He turned to face her, and Sakura saw his gaze search before landing on her.

"Why do you ask?" He said in a slightly guarded tone.

Sakura took a deep breath before uttering her thoughts on his behavior.

Itachi seemed surprised, but then closed his eyes and spoke. "You're right. My eyes are failing me." When he opened them, Sakura met the red blaze of his sharingan. "It's because of this, well, the monykegou sharingan. It came at a price to obtain it, and it seems, that there's a price to use it as well. My eyesight has been slowly going since the first time I used it."

"Can you do anything? I mean, is there anything I could do?"

Itachi retracted the Sharingan and smiled in a sad sort of way. "I don't know, I never really thought about it. I suppose there may be a way to reverse it."

Sakura sat straight up. "Well, I could do an eye exam, I'm sure between me and Tsunade-sama we could heal your eyes."

Itachi seemed apprehensive, but then nodded. "Alright, I suppose it won't be any harm to have an eye exam."

Sakura got up and walked around to Itachi's side of the table. She sat before him and put her hands on his face as she gazed intently into his eyes. Itachi felt his face grow a bit warmer as she turned his head slightly.

"Itachi, I'll need to add some of my chakra to your eye in order to see any contusions or lesions." She moved one hand from his face and brought it to his eyelids. He could feel chakra move through his eyes and was surprised at how pleasant it felt. Usually, when someone else's chakra goes into your body it feels as if the strange chakra is intruding. With Sakura's chakra, Itachi felt as if she was comforting him, inside and out. He opened his eyes. She was giving directions on which way he should look as she examined his eyes.

"Now I'll need you to use your sharingan while I repeat the process."

He did as he was told and subjected himself to a few more minutes of probing. After she had finished, Sakura stood up and walked to the counter, muttering to herself. She scribbled furiously at a notepad for a few minutes before pausing. Itachi knew that she was all business at the moment he didn't interrupt her. A few moments later Sakura looked at him.

"I think I may be able to reverse the damage."

Itachi was entirely surprised.

"What?"

Sakura seemed sheepish. "Well, it actually won't be that hard. It seems your body reacts well to my chakra, in case you hadn't noticed, and the damage seems pretty standard, almost like it was from natural causes. It should take about half a day to heal your eyes, and then if you continue to lose your eyesight, we can repeat the process as necessary. I mean, you've been using the monykegou sharingan for years and your eyesight hasn't been damaged beyond repair. Though, I wouldn't use it very often in order to prevent the symptoms from returning."

"I expected you would say that. Well," He said looking at her. "When will we be able to do this? I mean, no rush, when you've got time."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Itachi, I said it wasn't serious but that doesn't mean we put this off. We'll do it today."

"So soon?"

"Yeah, I'll head into the office and get what I need." She seemed lost in her preparations. "I should be back by noon; we can do it here, and then be done by nightfall." She said, heading for the door. "Well, assuming all goes according to plan."

―――

It was almost time for her to heal Itachi's eyes. Sakura placed bowls of medicinal herbs and water beside the bed and placed a chair next to them. **Everything seems to be okay.** She thought. **Tsunade-sama gave me everything, and I'm ready. The only thing missing now is…the patient!** Sakura got up and stuck her head out of the doorway.

"Itachi?" She called.

She heard a noise behind her and turned to see him shutting the window.

"Have you been in here the whole time?" She asked, puzzled. **Maybe I'm the one who needs their eyes checked!**

He flashed a smile. "No, I was outside. I came in through the window."

"Oh," She said relieved. "Let's get started."

Sakura sat next to the bed as Itachi lay down. She mixed several of her herbs into a bowl and placed water, as well as her chakra, into the bowl. She let the chakra flow over her hands as she placed one hand on his chest and the other over his eyes.

"Okay, here we go…"

―――

A few hours later, Sakura moved her hands from Itachi's face and breathes a sigh of relief. Night had fallen outside, it had taken more time and energy than she had expected but, finally, she was done.

Itachi lay still with his eyes closed. That his healing was finished was incredible. He almost didn't dare to open his eyes. He could hear Sakura's tired breathe, and sat up, still keeping his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he noticed how his vision was no longer unfocused or grainy. He looked at his hands,** I can't remember the last time I could see this clearly.** He brought his hands up to Sakura's tired face as he turned his gaze toward her. Sakura leaned into his touch.

"Thank you, Sakura."

Sakura smiled. "Don't thank me. I only wanted to help."

"No, you gave me back my eyes. Because of you I can finally see you." He leaned forward and began to caress her cheek. "I can see you and your eyes…" His voice began to drop as his thumb grazed over her lips. "And your lips." He gently pressed his mouth over hers.

Several moments later, Sakura and Itachi broke apart, drawing in a deep breath. Sakura felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she quickly gathered the bowls and herbs before mumbling something about being right back and dashing out of the room. Sakura leaned against the wall once she was out of sight. **I can't believe he just…!** She thought, mind racing. **I don't know what to do. I mean, not that I didn't enjoy it.** She leaned over to glance into the room. Itachi was staring out the widow, his back to her. **I just don't know what to do!**

Itachi glanced out the window, thinking about what had happened. He wondered if Sakura would regret the kiss, but seemed to think otherwise. The kiss was short, but not short enough that she couldn't have pulled away if she wanted to. Itachi smiled remembering how flustered she looked as she had escaped from the room. He assumed that she was overwhelmed and maybe a little confused but he was somewhat excited at how she had reacted to his touch. He stretched and began to get into bed. **Let's see how long it takes her to come to bed.** He thought with a chuckle. **No matter how embarrassed she is, she has to come to bed.** Itachi rolled over to face the wall.

―――

After putting away everything she had used, Sakura walked into the bedroom. Itachi was lying facing the wall, and Sakura took advantage of this by quickly changing and slipping into bed. **I'm so tired**, she thought, facing the ceiling. She looked at the back of Itachi's head. **I guess it wouldn't be so bad to admit that I liked kissing him. That maybe I am falling in love. But only to myself.** Sakura closed her eyes and drifted into a heavy sleep.

―――

Itachi rolled over to face Sakura only after he was sure she was fast asleep. Itachi propped his head up on his elbow and smiled as he watched his wife breathe. She looked so peaceful with her head to the side, her mouth slightly open. Itachi moved her hair out Sakura's face with the back of his hand. **Maybe it would be okay to admit that he was starting to love her**. He bent down and planted a soft kiss on her large forehead.

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she found herself gazing up at Itachi. It was still dark outside so she assumed he hadn't been up long.

"Hi." She said as he smiled.

"Hi, yourself." He said as she blushed.

"What time is it?"

"It's late, go back to sleep. I am." As if to convince her, he slunk back under the covers, still facing her.

"Alright."

Sakura settled back into the bed, when, surprisingly, Itachi reached over and brought her closer to him. He put his face next to hers and closed his eyes, his arm still across her waist. Sakura wanted instinctively to pull away, but soon found she was comfortable. She settled into his chest and closed her eyes as well. **Yeah**, thought both Sakura and Itachi.

―――

Woo! I finally let the ball start rolling in this story! I now it took forever! I hope you guys like it. Next time: Akatsuki begins their plan and Sasuke reveals himself!


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

**HEY EVERYONE! Sorry it's been a little while; my family's computer crashed and we finally got it back! Then with all the fires… yikes. Well here it is! The moment I, I mean ****you've**** been waiting for! Akatsuki Strikes!**

―――

Sakura awoke in Itachi's arms. She looked up at him and he smiled.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

Itachi released Sakura and sat up. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"I have to go see Tsunade-sama. There's something she wanted me to get. She wanted it yesterday, but I was here…" She trailed off.

"Okay, then you better get going. It's getting late."

Sakura looked at the clock and yipped; he was right. She was late. Sakura hopped out of bed and began to dress at top speed. Within minutes she was ready and about to step out the door when…

"Sakura."

She turned and found Itachi walking toward her. "Yeah?"

He stood close to her as he brought his hand to her face, softly brushing her cheek. Sakura closed her eyes at the touch. Itachi brought his face to hers and planted a small kiss on her lips. "Have a good day."

―――

Sakura rounded the corner to Tsunade's office, her mind still reeling from the morning she had. She gathered her thoughts and strolled into the office. Tsunade was at her desk and Shizune was arguing with her. As Sakura approached the desk, both women turned to welcome her.

"Good Morning Sakura" sighed Shizune. "I was just telling Tsunade-sama you were going to show up."

"Hey! I knew she was going to come! All I was saying is that she's late!" Tsunade looked at Sakura. "You're late."

"Yeah, I know. I overslept."

Tsunade smiled slyly. "Too much FUN in your marriage life?"

Sakura gasped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tsunade stood up and walked to a cabinet. "Nothing. Nothing." She picked up a pile of papers. "Anyway, I have a mission for you." Sakura walked over to take the papers Tsunade was holding. "You're to pick up a scroll from a nearby town."

"Are you sure it's not a slot machine?" Sakura snickered.

Tsunade snorted. "Shhhh! Shizune still doesn't know!" She stopped whispering. "And, yes, I'm sure. This scroll is from our research department. It contains the information we've gathered from that region. You can leave today; it won't take you longer than a few hours."

"Okay, then I better go tell the others."

"No, you'll be going alone. The others are going on their own mission."

―――

Naruto was upset. Team seven finally got another mission together and Sakura wasn't going! **Damn that Granny Tsunade**, he thought. **I haven't seen Sakura in so long!**

He was heading to find Itachi since Kakashi was busy preparing. Naruto ran up to the house that Sasuke use to live in. He banged on the door and stopped to catch his breath. The door swung open and Naruto saw Itachi looking confused.

"Sorry Naruto, Sakura isn't here."

"Yeah, I know. But we have a mission to do. Kakashi's waiting for us at the bridge."

"Oh, alright. I'll be right back." Itachi closed the door. Within a few minutes he was dressed and ready for the mission. He and Naruto began to head toward Kakashi.

―――

After everyone was briefed about the mission, Itachi, Naruto and Kakashi left. They were headed toward a village adjacent to where Sakura was headed in order to repair damage from a bridge that had collapsed. The repairs would take a few days, but at least the mission wasn't too strenuous.

Halfway to their destination, Itachi slowed down. Kakashi looked back to see what was wrong. The three stopped as Itachi scanned the forest, searching for movement.

"What is it?"

"I thought I felt someone, but I can't sense them anymore. I suppose it was nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, let's go."

―――

A few meters away, Kisame signaled to his partner, and the two began to move once more.

The shark-like man smiled as he sprinted through the treetops, his gray haired partner behind him. They headed toward the fake village their leader had set up. Leader had created this village to gather information on Konoha but capturing Itachi's wife seemed like a good use as well.

After a few moments, Kisame and his partner caught up with their prey. Both men timed their steps to those of the pink haired woman in front of them. **We'll have to do this carefully, **Kisame thought.** We can't go rushing in.** Kisame smiled. Since when was he the conservative type? If he weren't trying to be quiet he would have laughed. **Screw this**, he thought. With one look to his partner, Kisame knew he was thinking the same thing.

The two men leaped into the road before the kunoichi, Kisame in front, the other behind. The woman looked surprised but not off guard. Kisame saw her eyes linger over the black and red cloak before raising the kunai in her hand. Kisame chuckled as he heard her mutter, "Akatsuki."

"You seem surprised woman." Kisame said as his positioned himself for an attack. "Didn't you see this coming? Your damn husband left us without permission. There has to be some," He paused as his mouth twisted into a sneer. "Punishment."

―――

Sakura was taken aback. She knew who was attacking her. Hoshigaki Kisame from the village hidden in the mist. She had heard about him, and Akatsuki, from Kakashi and Tsunade but had never seen him. Neither of them had mentioned the man behind her, although, she knew from his cloak he was from the same evil organization. She could tell that the more dangerous of the two was Kisame, especially with the large wrapped sword he was keeping at his back, but that didn't mean she could ignore him. For now, all Sakura could do was keep them talking.

"So Itachi left and now you're going to take it out on me?"

Both men began circling her, as if they were rabid wolves, closing in on their prey. Sakura shifted her position, trying to keep the shark-like man directly in front of her. Before she could sense his movement, the man behind her moved in to elbow her in the back. She was thrown off balance, and Sakura mentally kicked herself for underestimating Kisame's partner.

She changed direction and charged at Kisame's partner, ready to plunge her kunai into his chest. He moved just in time, but not fast enough to completely miss her knife. Sakura slashed him, causing a shallow cut to spurt some blood. The man yelped at the pain of the cut, and looked angry but was thrown back by one of Sakura's chakra infused punches. She turned to do the same to Kisame but he was ready for her. He had taken out his Samehada and swung the large weapon toward her as she jumped. The scaly sword caught her in the stomach. Sakura let out an angry scream as the weapon tore away part of her shirt, as well as a piece of her skin.

Trying to regain her footing, Sakura stumbled when both men rushed toward her. She jumped out of the way, and tried to escape the small clearing. Sakura could hear them laughing as she ran.

―――

Kisame began to follow the woman running before him. He knew she wasn't running because she was scared, but merely trying to find some high ground. But Kisame was prepared for this. This capture was going to be all his.

Sakura was coming up to a clearing when she realized she was no longer being followed. She was unsure if the men had masked their chakra or simply stopped. She tore her eyes from the forest behind her and turned to the direction that would take her home, her feet sloshing in a puddle underfoot. **I'll have to report this right away**, she thought**. Forget the-**

She was jarred from her frantic thought as Sakura realized she couldn't move her leg. She looked down and saw the watery formation of a hand gripping her ankle. **Shit.** She tried to free her leg, pull away, escape, but the hand that protruded out of the puddle tightened its hold on her leg as she tried to pull away until Kisame's upper body was coming out of the shallow pool.

"You fell for it, bitch." He sneered.

Kisame yanked her leg from under her so that she fell to the ground, hitting her head as he raised himself from the water. Sakura's head hurt from her fall, but she was able to feel him release her ankle as he stood up. Sakura tried to jump up, but the shark man stomped on the small of her back, slamming her back on the ground.

"No, no, no. You won't be leaving that easily."

"Asshole."

"Now that's not very nice, is it?" He cooed as he dug his heel into her spine.

Sakura bit her lip as she felt her spine bruise. Her head was reeling from the bump it had received and the pain of her raw stomach, which was still bleeding somewhat, increased as dirt entered the wound. She heard the brush rustle behind her, and Sakura knew his partner had arrived.

"Looks like you got her."

Kisame smiled, revealing two rows of sickeningly pointed teeth. "It was easy." He heard a small "Tch" come from the girl beneath him, so he used his other foot to stomp a bit on one of her arms. He felt the bone crack under his force, and saw the girl shout in pain. He had broken her right arm.

"Let's get back; we don't want to be late for the show." Kisame's partner chuckled as he began to walk toward Sakura.

"Yes," He said, hitting Sakura in the back of the head. "That's gonna be really interesting" was all she heard before one of her captors jabbed her in the back of her neck, causing her to passed out.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 **I DO NOT OWN NARUTO**

_Flashback_** Thoughts **

**A/N: I am writing this as I eat dinner (a peanut-butter, honey, and banana sandwich XD) b/c I swore I would write a new chapter by the end of the day. To everyone: I'm sorry for not updating sooner. Things got really messed up these last couple of months. I won't go into much detail here. (I put more detail in my profile) but I have been recently diagnosed with lupus and kidney failure. So now I take, like ten different meds and I have to get chemo once a month for the next 2 years. Though, now that things are getting better, I have decided to resume writing 'cause I realized that I would have been very sad if anything happened without finishing the story!**

―――

Kakashi couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. **I know I felt someone's chakra signature back in the woods.** He shook his head and continued to run toward the damaged village. Kakashi and Naruto were in the lead, chatting about how best to repair a broken bridge. Naruto hung back to speak with Itachi as they reached the village.

Naruto leaned in to Itachi so as not to be overheard. "Man, this is gonna suck! We'll probably have to rebuild the whole bridge ourselves 'cause Kakashi-Sensei never really helps with fix-it missions!"

Itachi gave a chuckle despite himself. Kakashi spotted the village leader walked a few steps away to talk with him about the repairs. When he returned, he turned to the guys with a cheery smile that was apparent beneath his dark blue mask.

"SOOOoooo!! Why don't you two get started with clearing off what's left of the bridge while I go get more lumber?"

Naruto gave Itachi an 'I told-ya-so' glare before Kakashi disappeared in a smoke plume. Itachi began to follow Naruto over toward the river when he saw the village leader waving at them. Naruto gave the odd man a cheery wave, but something about him didn't seem quite right to Itachi. He couldn't shake the feeling that this place was strange and, somehow, familiar. He simply nodded at the man before getting to work and decided to keep his guard up for any other suspicious behavior.

―――

Kakashi sat lazily against a tree on the forest floor. Next to him was a large pile of wood, slit and ready to be assembled into the new town bridge. **Since Naruto and Itachi won't be finished clearing the debris away for a while… **He thought with a chuckle as he pulled his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise, from his back pocket.

The copy ninja was shaken from the vision described in his adult novel by a slight tremor that travelled up the trunk of his tree. Kakashi lowered the book from his face and placed his palm on the ground, listening intently for any more disturbances. There was another tremor and Kakashi's visible eye widened momentarily before returning to its usual apathetic stare. He calmly leapt to his feet before taking off through the trees, leaving the wood pile behind.

―――

It was nearing sundown as Kakashi came out of the woods carrying the load of wood on his back. In one hand the jonin carried the string to hold the lumber, the other hand held his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradise. When he finally returned to the village, Kakashi could see Naruto glaring at him while Itachi simply seemed to look right through him. He quickly shoved the book in his pocket and sighed as his hand touched the piece of cloth he had come across in the woods. **Itachi is not going to like this.**

"My bad, guys! It took longer than I expected!"

"Whatever Kakashi-Sensei! It would take me forever too if I just decided to play by myself in the woods!" said Naruto indignantly.

"Actually, I had finished gathering the wood in about 20 minutes. But then I was distracted by this," He handed the ripped garment to Itachi. "It's Sakura's. I came to a clearing were it was obvious there had been a battle, from the looks of the landscape, I would say she put up a fight, but she was captured."

Naruto was clearly thunderstruck since he started running around in circles screaming "Sakura-chan, OH NO!! What're we gonna dooOOOOOOoooo!!" over and over again. Kakashi told the blonde to settle down and turned his attention to Itachi once more. Somewhat surprised that he hadn't said anything, Kakashi said, "I think we had best abandon this mission and head straight to the village. That way we can assess whether or not Sakura returned from her mission and set out to rescue her if we need to. I've sent Pakkun out to follow her trail so we won't lose footing if we need to track her down, but we should move quickly."

Itachi only nodded in agreement before taking off toward Konoha.

―――

Waiting for Naruto and Kakashi, Itachi was standing outside the Hokage's office, ready to leave. On the outside, it looked as if Itachi was his usual, indifferent, self, but his mind was racing on the inside. **I knew there was something suspicious going on and I even thought I sensed someone in the woods! Why didn't I realize earlier? Why didn't I trust my instincts?** He fumed. Itachi placed his hands over his eyes and sighed. **I haven't been myself since my eyes were healed. Have I let my guard slip that much?** **And why?**

He was broken from his thought by the arrival of Naruto and Kakashi. Both men had a worried expression on their face as they nodded a simple greeting. Itachi took that as the cue to leave and the three left the village at top speed.

The tree ninja fell into a triangle formation as they ran, heading back to the clearing were Kakashi had found Sakura's scrap of shirt. When they arrived, both Naruto and Itachi saw what Kakashi had; that a battle had clearly been fought here.

Itachi walked over to a puddle on the ground and leaned down to run his fingers over the water.

"There is definitely some chakra residue in this water, which means my old partner, Kisame, was here. He was probably the one that took Sakura. It's possible they were after me." He stood back up and walked a few steps further; ignoring the looks he was getting from Naruto. "They most likely would have taken her to the Akatsuki base."

Naruto was standing with his arms folded, getting more frustrated by the second. "So what does that mean for Sakura-chan?"

Itachi stared irately at the ground. "It means that my old 'family' would like to punish me for leaving them…"

―――

Kisame ran a hand through his coarse blue hair and stared at the unconscious form of the woman he just threw on the floor. Even in the dim candlelight in the windowless chamber, the wound on her stomach seemed painful, and in addition to her broken arm and various aches and pains, she would not be a happy camper when she woke up.

"He he, this girl was a pain in the ass to carry!" He said to Hidan, cackling.

His gray haired partner simply scoffed. "Whatever, at least you got to do some damage!"

"You kicked her for when she punched your face!" Kisame said with an evil grin.

"And what a punch it was!" he said rubbing his jaw. "So much pain, it was great!"

"Whatever, you sicko!" He said leading him to the door on the far left. "We've done our part, now it's up to Itachi-san's 'Loving brother' to enact our revenge. Or die trying."

―――

The two walked into the next room to see a shadowy figure leaning against the far wall. The figure dislodged itself from the wall and strutted over to the two cloaked men.

"He he, are you sure you don't want to keep that one tied up? She's kind of feisty!"

Sasuke gave the fish-man a smirk. "As if I need to worry about some worthless Kunoichi. In fact," He walked past the Akatsuki and reached for the door to his 'sister-in-law's' makeshift cell. "I'll go secure her right now."

"I assume you know we were followed. Not by a ninja, it smelled like some animal. I figured you wanted to leave Itachi a way to find you."

Sasuke gave another smug grin. "Well, what would be the point if our 'guest of honor' couldn't find his way to my trap?"

―――

Sakura cracked her eyes open and found herself lying on a hard-packed dirt floor. She tried to move around a little but discovered the fact that she was wounded in several places. **Crap! At least I haven't been tied up, or this part would be difficult.** Sakura moved her unbroken arm and brought it across her torn stomach. Her hand began to glow as the skin on her abdomen began to heal. **One down…**

Once she was done, Sakura turned her attention to her broken arm. She moved her newly fixed arm back and forth while clenching her fist until she was satisfied with her work. Her splitting headache on bruised back would have to wait; she wanted to conserve as much chakra as possible for emergencies. She stood up and walked around the room, taking note of the fact that she seemed to be underground, and there was only one door out.

The only objects in the room were a low wooden table with a single lit candle, a stool, and, oddly enough, her ninja supplies. **Those Akatsuki either completely underestimate me!** She thought with an angry growl, **or they are totally stupid! You would think they would at least be wary after the fight I gave**, she pouted, getting a little self conscious. **I hit that one guy pretty hard!** She took one last sweeping glace around the room before her eyes wandered to the ceiling. Nothing special except for the wooden rafters running horizontally to the door. A grin spread across Sakura's face as she began to formulate a plan. **Those are going to be useful!**

―――

The three Konoha ninja ran in silence on the trail Kakashi's dog had left. Since he didn't recognize the direction they were headed, Itachi was sure they were headed to a completely different location than his old base.

"Kakashi, I don't want to put down the stealth and tracking skills of your canine, but I think it's safe to assume that what awaits us is some sort of trap."

Kakashi let the comment about his Pakkun slide before responding. "I think your right, Itachi. But there's something else. Naruto! From what I've heard from Yamato, we're pretty close to…well. Does this place seem familiar to you at all?"

The blonde ninja was shaken out of his thoughts. "Huh? Familiar?" He picked up speed and jumped to some higher branches for awhile. After being in the lead for several minutes, the boy stopped dead in his tracks. Both Itachi and Kakashi caught up before stopping beside him.

"Your right, Kakashi-sensei." He said, turning to face them with angry tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. "This is near the place where Sasuke was rumored to be."

―――

Crouching in the rafters of her 'cell', Sakura was masking what was left of her chakra and positioned a kunai in a crack near where the wooden rafters met the dirt wall. If this went as she planned, Sakura would have not only the element of surprise, but a handy weapon as well. Her gaze was about to drill a hole in the wooden door separating her from her captors when the handle shook. **Excellent! Enough of this waiting; I want to get outta here!**

The door opened, it seemed, painfully slow. Sakura held her breath as a dark figure stepped, alone she noticed, into the room, closing the door behind him. She decided now was the time to put her plan into action, so Sakura slammed her Kunai into the indention between the wooden rafters, breaking it away from the wall and sending large chunks of wood and splinters into the air.

The figure below her raised his arms to his face to protect his eyes from the falling debris as Sakura leapt from her perch with her fist full of chakra. The figure began to lower his arms, revealing his silky black hair, hair that stuck up in the back, his handsome, boyish face, and piercing sharingan eyes.** No way.** Sakura was so stunned she stopped short of her target just long enough to give him time to react. He grabbed her chakra-infused fist and twisted it behind her, bringing her in close and fixing her with an icy stare.

"Sasuke-kun…"

―――


	13. Update

**Authors Note!

* * *

**

** I understand you have all been patient. **

**I'm sorry for not updating. **

**I have been dealing with a lot in the past year, but that's no excuse… **

**To everyone who has waited this long for my story to continue; I promise to begin writing again! **

**Give me a couple of days to reread (I don't even remember what I wrote!), and rework the story a little. Once I've got a good handle, I can write the next chapter. **

**By June 12th, you will have a new chapter.**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

_Flashback_ **Thoughts**

***This finished sooner than I would have hoped! Aren't you glad. Here's the next chapter. Hopefully now that summer is coming I can write on a regular basis! Well, without further ado… I will be writing again this weekend***

―――

Sasuke mentally kicked himself as he brought his arms to protect his eyes. **What the hell! How did this damn Kunoichi recover so quickly?! **He let his sharingan blaze as he lowered his arms, getting ready to strike the woman that dared attack him. He caught a glimpse of pink hair and saw the shock in her emerald eyes as the girl stopped short before him. He grimaced as he reached and forced her arm behind her to avoid being hit by her chakra-infused fist.

"Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's eyes briefly widened with surprise, then his brow furrowed in confusion, and his eyes filled with anger.

"Sakura?" He released her and turned away, muttering to himself. **Damn that fish-man. He brought me the wrong girl. I ask for his wife and all they bring me is my old useless teammate**.

She was frozen with surprise. Here was the guy she had loved. The one she had lost. The one she had cried her eyes out for. Searched and trained for. Sasuke was standing right in front of her. She hadn't seen him in 3 years, and now he was holding her captive! She wanted to reach out, hold him, say something! Sakura lifted her hand the slightest bit, and stopped. **How can I say anything to him**? she thought. **I stopped looking for him, settled down and married his BROTHER for goodness sakes!! I need to at least tell him. Explain…**

Right before Sakura was going to speak, Sasuke took another look at her. He shook his head and whispered, "Useless".

Sakura stopped cold, and began to grow angry. **Useless? After all these years, he still views me as a nuisance. After everything I tried to do for him.** Sakura balled her hands into fists as her anger grew.

―――

Kakashi, Naruto and Itachi were running at top speed. Little was said on the way, but all three of the ninja knew what the others were thinking. **Akatsuki took Sakura. It was probably a trap. No one cared. **

Kakashi signaled for everyone to slow down, and then stopped as they approached the edge of the trees. A cliff reaching up 5 stories high. The little nin-dog, Pakkun, was sitting on a branch, his stare fixated on a small cave opening that was set in the middle of the cliff wall. No doubt it would be hard to reach. No doubt it was be a complete maze.

Kakashi spoke to the dog. "What have you got for me?"

The little, brown, pug spoke without averting his gaze. "10 ninjas are inside. Two are our captors, one is Sakura, 6 don't have any special chakra signatures, so they are probably grunts. But one." He paused. "I've sensed him before. I tracked him with Naruto. During the attempted invasion, three years ago."

Naruto spoke first. "Sasuke."

Kakashi closed his eyes and reached out with his chakra. Reaching sensing. "It is him." Kakashi and Naruto looked toward Itachi. "What do you want to do?"

Naruto jumped and punched the air. "I'll tell you what we're gonna do! We're gonna go in there save Sakura, and drag Sasuke home by his hair!"

Itachi was silent for a few more seconds. "Hn. Sakura and the Akatsuki are my only concern. Make sure Sakura is safe, and send a message to the Akatsuki leader."

"Preferably a bloody one." Naruto said as he cracked his knuckles.

"But. If he hurt her." He looked at Naruto, causing the blond ninja to take a step back as his sharingan activated. "I will kill all those involved."

Kakashi sighed. Naruto crossed his arms and looked to the ground. After a few seconds, he nodded.

Itachi seemed satisfied. **I will not let any harm to come to my wife.** They all jumped to the floor before the cliff wall. Infusing the chakra that would hold them to the wall as they ran upwards.

As they approached the mouth of the cave, Naruto took charge. Creating no less than 10 shadow clones, he leaped into the mouth of the cave, eliciting yelps, and screams from the 2 lower level ninja that were supposedly watching for intruders. While Naruto charged, his shadow clones deflected or disintegrated as the fended off the kunai that the grunts hurled at the intruders. Blinded by the puffs f smoke that the disappeared in, Naruto and Itachi quickly incapacitated the guards. As their bodies fell to the floor, Kakashi took the lead.

"We take out anyone we find as a group. That is…" He looked at Itachi. "Until we meet the Akatsuki. Naruto and I will hold them off as you go to find Sakura. I trust Sasuke will have her. I leave that to you."

"EHHH???" Naruto grumbled. "I thought we were trying for a rescue and recon? Why can't I take Sasuke?"

Kakashi sighed. "No one is taking Sasuke unless needed. I trust Itachi to get Sakura out safely. Right?"

Itachi nodded. "I will get her back."

―――

Sasuke almost completely ignored her, walking past her, lost in his own anger. "I should have known better than to ally myself with them." He spoke in a barely audible whisper.

"And what was that you were after?" Sakura said, venom in every word. **Trying to take revenge on your brother, no doubt. But I'll be damned if I let him ignore me.**

He ignored the question but turned to speak with Sakura anyways. The composure had returned to his face, but the malice was still evident in his eyes. "Tell me Sakura." He said with just as much venom as she had spoken with. "What chance was it that those dumbasses got you, instead of who I was after."

"What makes you so sure they screwed up?"

A wicked smile broke out on his face. "Pfft. Please."

Sakura was getting angrier with every word he spoke. **I was right about one thing, at least.** She thought. **The first thing I want to do is punch him.** "Heard from your brother lately?" Sakura sneered.

Sasuke's smile turned into a nasty grimace. "Shut up." He took a breath. "That's who this little party is for. I was waiting for something to arrive; so I could leave him a nice, bloody, present. But someone was incompetent. I was waiting to have that bastard's wife served up to me on a silver platter."

Sakura laughed, only making him angrier. "A few things, Sasuke. One, I can sense your brother, and the rest of the team for that matter, getting closer. Two, I feel ALL better, and I'm not as weak as I used to be. Three, that 'bastard' is gonna kick the shit outta you. And four? " Sakura smiled wider, holding out her arms. "Come give your new sister a hug!"

―――

Sorry its so short. I'll be writing over the weekend. Please let me know what you think.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

_Flashback_ **Thoughts**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Life has been VERY crazy. I won't give you anymore excuses for that but I will give you half of a chapter. There was originally going to be more, but Im in a funk, so i decided to this you this much at least. Please continue to stay with me.  
**

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Itachi removed his headband and used the reflection to peer around the corner. He retied the headband and led the group forward. Going as quietly as possible with Naruto in the group, the ninjas sprinted down the cave. The cave was built like a labyrinth, each twist and turn led deeper into the mountain. Itachi let his senses lead him, expanding them until they brought him to a door with chakra behind it.

Kakashi put his ear to the door. "Sounds like four ninja."

He placed one hand on the door and focused his chakra. He pushed all the energy into the door and watched as the wood shattered beneath his palm. The other two jumped into the room, Naruto throwing punches, Itachi slipping to the far end of the room. The sounds of the enemy ninja's bodies hitting the floor were accompanied by Naruto's shouts of victory.

"Woohoo!! Bring em on!"

"I think the only ones left are the Akatsuki members and Sasuke. I don't feel a trace of any other chakra signatures but Sakura's." Itachi made his way through the door at the end of the room. "Once I know who the other member is, I'll tell you what I know. I can take Kisame."

"Who would the Akatsuki leader risk by sending?" Kakashi mused.

Itachi thought about that as they made their way through the tunnels. "Deidara, possibly, but he wouldn't be good in close combat. Zetsu and Kakuzu don't get along with Kisame. Then Hidan would be more likely than Sasori." Itachi stopped. "If that's the case, you will both need to keep him busy for me to move past him."

"Aw come on! How hard could it be for me and Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hidan can't be killed. He always puts himself back together."

"Yeah right! Everyone dies!" Naruto said, disbelieving. Kakashi put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto, stealth, remember?" Kakashi chastised. He turned to Itachi. "What do we do?"

"You need to stay out of the triangle he draws on the ground. Standing within in it would mean death. Fight with Ninjutsu and from a far. Don't stay in one place for any length of time. Making him jump from target to target will make him slip." Itachi moved to the next door. "Oh. Insult his mother, he hates that." Itachi pulled on the door.

* * *

Sasuke stared blankly at Sakura.

"What?"

She smiled wickedly. "You heard me." She said, lowering her arms. "I married your brother."

"What! How?"

Sakura laughed. "Does it matter? The village welcomed him back. He's replaced you on our team. We are married and live in your house." She was angry that she was here, held captive, by the man she thought she had loved for years. His features were twisted by hate and anger, there was no trace left of the young man that had worked side by side on team 3. This fact fueled her anger, made her want to hurt him. She mustered every ounce of venom she could as she sneered at him. "He's good at everything he does, and the village is proud; says that we are lucky to finally have an Uchiha that isn't WORTHLESS!"

At this, Sasuke roared and threw himself across the room. He grabbed Sakura by the hair and threw her on the floor.

"I don't want to hear lies about my fucking brother; especially not coming from a useless bitch that was enough of a slut to marry him! He's a fucking psycho! I WILL kill him!"

Sakura raised herself from the floor. There was nothing standing between her and the door. But she didn't run. She fell into a fighting stance. After everything, Sasuke still thought of her as useless, he kidnapped her, plotted to kill her husband, and called her a slut. Now all she wanted to do was hurt him.

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The room was dark and cramped as Naruto, Itachi and Kakashi walked into the next chamber. The only thing that was visible was the bright red of Kakashi and Itachi's Sharingan. A dark laugh floated in the air.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't some of the worthless shinobi of the Leaf village." Hidan sneered. "I wonder how long it will take before I have you all begging for me to stop."

Naruto smirked. "I don't know, I told your mom the same thing last night!"

Hidan's face contorted with rage. Slapping his hands together, he began to activate his jutsu.

"Oh oh," Naruto said.

"Nice one, Naruto." Kakashi spit.

Naruto built up his chakra and created several shadow clones. Itachi and Kakashi did the same. All the Narutos pulled out oversized shuriken and hurled it at Hidan. Pulling out a small kunai, he dodged or blocked several of them, leaving the rest to decorate the wall behind him.

"Nice try, fuckers, but I have a little more skill that."

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